


Abomination

by EvilEkat



Series: AB [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-10 21:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 33
Words: 153,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4407695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilEkat/pseuds/EvilEkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose's gem is smashed during the rebellion, her pieces never fully recovered. Five thousand years later, Yellow Diamond's disciple, a "Steven" reaches Earth after an accident with a malfunctioning warp pad. The gems discover him, his striking resemblance to their lost leader... And how the Home World's experiments take "unnatural" to a entirely new level of horrific. (Cross-Posted on Fanfiction, sequel now up.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here's an interesting idea I had wandering around my mind. The main difference in this (At least, as I see it.) Is that Greg has nothing to do with the Crystal Gems, and does not know who Rose is. He knows and has interacted with Amethyst however, because we'll get Vidalia in this story too. Also, Amethyst has never met Rose (I base this upon the assumption that they met after the war. Either that or she was still too young to fight.) So she doesn't have the same emotional baggage about Rose and Greg like she does in the show. 
> 
> I think I like the idea of shorter chapters for this (Minimum 3,000 words, excepting this one as it's the intro.) but we'll all see where this rabid plot bunny is going to go. This chapter does happen to contain a flashback, but that's only because it sets things up. I know how irritating those can get when in written form, so don't expect any more.
> 
> Also, a weird thought: If we ever see a flashback to one of the battles, will the music sound like a fully-fledged orchestra like the Mirror Match song? Or will it be a horrific mash up of instruments that sounds like someone broke into a music store and is destroying everything?
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe.

_Five Thousand Years Ago..._

"ROSE! NO!"

Pearl regenerated just on time to watch the battle axe swipe through Rose's torso. She poofed back to her gem, a look of horrified shock still frozen on her face. Pearl was too surprised to do anything. Even if she had not been paralyzed, she wouldn't have been able to stop the second blow of the axe.

It struck the fallen gem, splitting her in half. One piece was sent flying, propelled by the force of the strike, hitting Pearl in the face. Pearl clutched it in shock, not processing what had just happened to Rose. The battlefield seemed to grow silent, the clash of weapons fading. Countless of Crystal Gems turned to the spot where their leader had fallen.

The Home World Gem paid no mind to the sudden quiet. Tossing her battle axe to the ground, she bubbled the first half of the former Rose Quartz and sent it away. The gem was now approaching Pearl. But before she could retrieve the other half of her and finish off the annoying Pearl that had continued to regenerate, she was attacked.

Thousands of Crystal Gems piled on top of the Home World Gem. Before she could even move, their multitude of weapons were sticking through her like a grotesque pincushion. She retreated to her gem almost instantly, but this did not stop any of them from fighting to destroy the gem into fragments. By the time they had retreated, there was little more than dust left of her.

"I-I wasn't strong enough..."

* * *

_Present Day..._

Pearl regenerated just as the memory ended. She landed gracefully on the floor, only somewhat shaken. Taking in her new form, she did feel a little stronger now. She had grown a little, possibly even near Garnet's height, and had chosen to get rid of the stray hairs had grew around the side of her face. The semi-transparent skirt was an interesting choice, not one she would have originally thought of, but it was still flexible, and thus suiting with her new form.

"You're back!" Amethyst grinned. "It was about time! You take forever!"

Amethyst was sitting, or rather, swimming around in her room. This normally would have been a cause for annoyance, but it looked like she had not touched anything, so that was at least a little bit of a plus. Normally everything would have been a disaster area at this point. The gem had clearly been waiting for her to come back.

"Yes." She nervously laughed. "After getting impaled by that fence, I sure did get a lot of time to think."

"Garnet said that we had to take it down after that."

Pearl balked at this.

"What?! But we need that fence to keep the humans out! Otherwise they'll be _crawling_ all over the sand with their _disgusting_ human feet!"

Amethyst shrugged.

"She said that we couldn't afford it happening again."

"But, it was an accident!" Pearl insisted. "I'll just go talk to her and-"

"No."

Garnet stepped into the room from outside of the temple. Again, Pearl was surprised to hear a negative answer to this.

"But Garnet-"

"No buts. We've had that fence up for too long."

"The humans-"

"Ignore them." Garnet interrupted. "We have more important things to worry about."

This caught the gems attention. After all, she had always taken her time after retreating to her gem. What had happened during the time that she had been out of it? Was it something dire? What if it was?! What if something had happened to the temple?! Were the corrupted gems somehow breaking free or becoming more powerful?! Was the planet finally reaching it's doomsday and they now had to evacuate all of the life on Earth to their moon or else they would face destruction?!

"What's going on?"

"The Home World warp pad has been acting up." Amethyst explained. "It's been shooting out crazy beams of electricity and stuff! But Garnet managed to stop it for a bit, by punching it into pieces."

"Do you think someone else is working on the other end?" She asked in a hushed voice.

Garnet crossed her arms.

"I don't think, I know."

Pearl felt a sudden dread at hearing this from the team leader.

"And the outcomes?"

The taller gem seemed to grimace somewhat at the question.

"All of the outcomes I see are the same. Something or someone is going to come out of that warp pad, and it's only a matter of time until it happens."

"You can't see what it is? What we're going to fight?"

A dark silence filled the room. Garnet remained unmoving, and it was clear that she was searching everything that she could in the future for an answer. Pearl and Amethyst glanced at each other uncomfortably, not knowing what she was going to say about the outcomes. How bad were things going to be? Did they had a new threat upon their hands? Then, Garnet moved.

"The only thing we can do is prepare. All the battles I see aren't for at least a year."

"But surely we can stop this!" Pearl desperately said. "Can't we just destroy the Home World warp?

"We already tried." Amethyst replied. "And all we got was a nasty electric shock."

"What about Sardonyx?" She suggested.

"We tried to mash it up, but Sugilite couldn't handle it."

Garnet's fists clenched at this.

"It forced us to unfuse, we barely remained conscious."

The trio went silent again at the statement. They all knew how much fusion meant to Garnet, and the idea that something could force her apart was startling. Garnet turned on her heel and exited Pearl's room. Amethyst stopped swimming in the water, and pulled herself out of the pool. She gave a frustrated sigh, aiming a kick at the rack of swords that Pearl had left out before she had been poofed.

"She's been all weird since then." Amethyst huffed. "She just stuck in her room all the time, and she only talked to herself!"

Pearl tried to laugh off her own worry at this, but it wasn't working too well. Not much was able to phase Garnet. With the warp pad and her future visions not promising anything good, it seemed like they were really going to be in for a lot of trouble. What was so powerful that it could force someone like Garnet to split apart? It had to be something even stronger than the love that kept them together, a force that could drive two gems that were made for each other to split.

"Oh, you know Garnet! She's always been quiet."

"Yeah, but not this quiet." Amethyst pouted. "If I didn't have Vidalia to talk to this month, I would've gone insane!"

Lowering her voice, Pearl said;

"We both know how things to do with fusion can make Garnet a little... Less stable than usual. But I'm sure with a little more time she'll be back to normal!"

"Are you two coming, or not?"

They both winced, realizing that she had probably heard their entire conversation. Amethyst and Pearl ran out of the room to catch up with Garnet, who was already standing on the warp, waiting for them to show up. Pearl gave the gem a slightly twitchy smile, that was supposed to seem innocent. It failed miserably of course, and the taller gem simply looked away from her.

The warp away to the main hub seemed to be a little more jarring than usual. Pearl was alarmed to see that there were actually holes and tears in the stream. She could make out bits of the space between warps rolling past her at the speed of light. The chill from space outside was leaking into the area. They arrived with a jarring start. Both Amethyst and Pearl were flattened to the ground by this, but Garnet remained stoic.

Picking herself up from the ground, Pearl looked at the warp they had used in disgust.

"Has it been like that since I left?"

"It was worse before Garnet punched them all." Amethyst said, punching her fist. "Right Garnet?"

The taller gem didn't say anything, and continued to where the Home World warp pad was situated. Amethyst's eager smile faded at this, and she kicked a piece of the warp pad that had come loose. In the meantime, Pearl caught up with Garnet, still surveying the area that had once been neat and orderly.

Now the warp pad hub was a mess, plain and simple. There were chunks missing from almost all of the warp pads, and several had giant cracks on their surfaces. The once shiny material they were made of seemed to have dimmed down as well. Everything just gave off a strong sensation of wrongness. Pearl couldn't help but feel that the decay of these warps seemed unnatural.

They were unnatural of course, but the feeling still persisted in the back of her mind.

"Oh this is just awful!" She claimed out loud. "I knew that the warps had to be put down, but that state they're in now is a disgrace! I mean, just look at how the stone has-"

"Pearl?"

"Oh, uh, yes Garnet?" She asked, turning to her teammate.

"Be quiet."

The gem pointed over to where the Home World warp was. True to their stories, it was reacting strangely. There was a slight buzzing noise emanating from it, which Pearl realized was the sound of a current flowing through it. Yellow-green sparks hummed and leaped off of the warp pad.

Amethyst joined them, crouching behind a nearby fallen pillar. The trio watched the warp as it continued to act up. Pearl continued to feel more uneasy as she stared at the Home World warp pad. What was going to come out of there? Would they have to fight? How would this affect the other warps?

Suddenly, a shower of sparks rose from the center of the warp pad, slowly expanding wider and wider until a pillar of yellow light was shining. Pearl could see that there were even more holes in this one, revealing mixtures of warp space inside of it. Someone was trying to use the warp pad!

"Ready your weapons!"

The statement was hardly needed. They all pulled out their respective weapons and waited to see what would come out. The stream of light suddenly stopped. The group tensed as they saw a figure emerge.

"Whoa, that was a weird warp!" The gem laughed. "No wonder why they're under construction!"

"THERE! GET IT"

The gem turned in confusion, wondering where the voices had come from. Before he could even realize the danger, he had been pulled off the malfunctioning warp by a whip, and speared through the chest. Much like Rose Quartz, and many gems before her, the expression of disorientation turned horror stuck on the gem's face.

The gem poofed, and fell to the ground with a clatter. With the deed done, they could all breath a little more easily. Garnet bubbled the gem and sent it back to the temple. The Crystal Gems then continued to sit by the Home World warp, waiting for any more intruders from the home world to show up.

None of them had even gotten the chance to see the familiar gem embedded within his stomach.


	2. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was already up on my Fanfiction account, but from now updates will be in synch.

_Crack!_

**_Crack!_ **

**_CRACK!_ **

_ "Please _ _try to not get hit by the debris, it's getting in our hair."_

_"OUR HAIR?! THAT'S ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!"_

_"I know how much you hate having to get stuff out of it."_

_"IT WAS YOU WHO THOUGHT STICKING THE KEYS IN THERE FOR STORAGE WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA! NOT ME!"_

_"Actually, it was you-"_

_"CAN YOU JUST. SHUT. UP?!"_

_"Be patient Ruby. The energy coming from the warp pad is trying to drive us apart. It's making us argue."_

"WELL MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST STAY APART IF IT WANTS IT SO MUCH!"

Garnet's gauntlets vanished, and she covered her mouth in shock. Had... Had she really just said that out loud? The gem took a step back from the malfunctioning warp pad, keeping clear away from the yellow sparks that continued to leap off of the structure. Ever since the first gem had come out of the Home World warp, she had been working on destroying the pad. After realizing that they could warp here, she had thrown caution, caring, and future vision to the wind. There was no way she was letting them back on her planet.

It took the strength of a fusion to make a dent in the warp during it's current state. The problem with this was that the energy constantly tried to separate anything it touched. Pearl and Amethyst could do nothing to help, so they had gone back to guard the temple in case anything happened.

The work was difficult and unpleasant. Her gauntlets could not contain the energy for long amounts of time, and she merely ended up even more frustrated with herself. The energy coming off of the warp seemed to be making her feel more aggravated, as she wanted nothing more than to split apart. Ruby and Sapphire were feeling compelled to argue with each other the more they worked away at the warp.

It caused many a problem. Neither could agree on the approach to take with destroying the warp. Their punches and kicks became uncoordinated and almost useless. Their reflexes weren't working nearly as quickly either, when neither of them was really in tune with what the other was thinking. Ruby could no longer see into the future, and it left her, them, furious.

Sapphire on the other hand literally couldn't see. Well, she could at least not see properly and perceive depth. It was up to Ruby to stop their aim from missing the warp, but she was still blinded by her anger. In short, the warp pad was turning Garnet into a mess, and she was struggling to keep herself together.

But finally, they managed to destroy the warp to a satisfactory state. There was a gigantic split right down the middle, and debris was littered everywhere. The humming sound it had been making before finally died down, and it was no longer spitting out sparks at her. This was an instant cause for relief. Not only because the bitter arguing between Ruby and Sapphire had ended, but because there was now no chance of any other Home World Gems suddenly arriving at the warp hub.

Visibly exhausted, Garnet took the warp back to the temple. The ride seemed even more jarring this time, and the cold of outer space continued to creep into the stream. They were really going to have to do something to fix this warp. Their rides to other places were as smooth as ever, but the journey to the warp hub seemed to get worse every time they went through it.

When she arrived back, Amethyst and Pearl were both waiting for her there. Pearl eagerly ran up to Garnet and began to jabber about something or the other.

_"Uuugh. Does she ever shut up?"_

_"Only when we speak."_

_"I don't even think I can move let alone speak."_

_"Ruby?"_

_"Yeah Sapphy?"_

_"Let's split for a while."_

_"I'm already ahead a' ya'."_

Garnet fell face-first on to the ground. Turning a glowing white, she ceased to be Garnet. Ruby and Sapphire sprawled out on the ground, groaning in harmony.

"Garnet! Are you alright?!" Pearl worriedly asked.

"Don't even say her name." Ruby moaned.

"We just need a little space." Said Sapphire. "I'll be in my room."

Even Sapphire's normally cool voice sounded a little more than strained. She did however get to her feet, tiredly hovering slightly above the ground. The gem floated off to the temple door and waited for it to allow her access to her own room.

Pearl seemed to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown at this point, and Amethyst was openly showing her concern for the former halves of Garnet.

"So, how'd the mission go?" Pearl asked.

"Can it Squawky." Ruby growled at her.

Taken aback by the reply (Although, in her heart of hearts, Pearl knew the reaction wasn't anything new from the hot-tempered gem.) Pearl gave Ruby a little more space. Amethyst barely laughed at the insult, showing how worried she really was for the other gems.

"What happened to like, being an eternal flame?" Amethyst wondered.

"This eternal flame needs some oxygen." Ruby muttered. "And some sleep. Can I crash in your room?"

"Yeah! We never get to spend quality time together!"

Amethyst, all too happy to help, pulled Ruby up off the ground, and carried her over to the temple door. It opened for her, and she pulled the other gem inside of her pile of stuff.

* * *

Steven groaned, clutching his chest. Pain... Why was he in so much pain? Where was he? It felt like there was a hole in his chest for some reason... Oh, there was a hole in his chest! The memories came rushing back when Steven became aware of what had happened. He was back inside of his gem once more, he'd been injured near fatally.

Taking one of the older warp pads to the battlefield had obviously not been a good idea to begin with. But he would have been late for his lesson with Yellow Diamond otherwise! The consequence of being late for the third time ever was not a pleasant one, so he had taken the older warp rather than wait for a new one to clear up. However, the warp stream was strange, and he could see all sorts of odd holes within it, and there was a persisting chill throughout. When he arrived, he wasn't at the battlefield, he was at some kind of abandoned warp pad station.

Then those gems had attacked him and poofed him for no reason! Who were they, just trying to go after him like that? With Yellow Diamond as his instructor, every gem knew exactly who he was, so attacking him was especially off limits! Were they trying to get themselves smashed?!

Steven clutched his chest again as more pain flowed through it. He needed to fix this, and he did exactly that. Now for regeneration. He had done it tons of times, so this was no different. He didn't have time to go thinking about himself, not when he was in the middle of battle, or a potentially dangerous situation. The gems that had poofed him might try to kill him if he didn't do something soon!

The idea of being smashed into pieces frightened Steven. But it was nowhere near as frightening as having Yellow Diamond angry at him would be. She was going to be furious at him for letting this happen! It was all his fault for being so careless, and he shouldn't have gotten in the situation in the first place and so on! He had to do something before it was too late! Steven hurried to collect himself and prepare his usual physical form to display.

When he woke up once more, Steven discovered that the world had an odd pink-red tone to it. And it was also upside down. Still disoriented from regenerating, he had to shake his head and gain his bearings more. Once his thoughts had cleared, he recalled his training. You could always tell which was which by spitting and watching which way it went. But what if he was trapped in some kind of gravity prison?! Or maybe he was in space where there was no gravity!

Spitting still seemed like it was worth a try though. When he did, Steven nearly got a gob-full of salvia in his hair.

"Ok, so I am definitely upside down." Steven mused to himself. "But why is the world pink?"

Focusing on his outside surroundings a little more, Steven saw that he was on a large room. There were a few different exits to it, the closest one being a set of stairs. And from what he could see, there were other bubbles too. Within them he saw... Other gems! He was trapped inside of a bubble! They all were!

A shiver of dread ran down Steven's spine. He had heard stories about a place like this before. Yellow Diamond said that long ago, an evil group called the Crystal Gems had rebelled from Home World and caught countless good gems for their own sick purposes! It was their fault that gem corruption existed! He had learned it from many veterans in the war, all of who had first-hand accounts of what had happened during the final days of battle.

The rebels all corrupted gems and used the monsters to cause terror on perfectly good planets belonging to the Home World! And when they were done with the gems, they broke them up into tiny pieces and sold them as jewelry to the humans that lived on Earth. In exchange they supposedly received resources to fuel their own kindergartens, specifically made to breed corrupt, bad gems. That was why the kindergarten of Earth had only ever created ineffective gems! He had learned it all from Yellow Diamond and his other teachers!

But how had he ended up on Earth? Could it have to do with the broken warp that he had been forced to take that day? Steven whimpered slightly, clutching his stomach. He was too pretty to be a necklace!

The bubble suddenly popped.

Steven fell before he could catch his balance, painfully falling to the ground. Groaning, he got back up on his feet. He needed to get out of here before they caught him. But, the other gems... He couldn't just leave them here! And maybe if he rescued them, Yellow Diamond wouldn't be too mad at him for being late to their lesson and wasting her time!

Looking around the room, Steven's stomach plummeted farther. There were so many of them in here. The entire ceiling seemed to be completely obscured by the various gems. He could see all sorts of gems, some of them that had been discontinued for thousands of years! He had only seen pictures of what a Topaz looked like! And was that a real, live Onyx?! If he could free them, escaping would be easy, and Yellow Diamond would be proud of him for saving such powerful warrior gems!

The only problem was that he could not reach the majority of the gems. He was too short to even touch the bubbles. Steven tried to jump up at them a few times, but it was hopeless. The boy gave a defeated sigh. This was going to be impossible. He'd just have to leave them all behind. Steven turned to the nearest exit, when a different gem caught his sight.

It was spherical in shape, and looked to be green with black stripes from what he could tell. The pink kind of got in the way of things. There weren't many gems shaped like that, but he wasn't really sure what kind it was. But maybe this gem was tall enough to help him reach the others, or at the very least, give him a bit of a boost. Then they could all escape back to Home World together!

Standing on his tip-toes, Steven swiped at the bubble a few times, and succeed to destroy it on the third try. He caught the gem before she could hit the ground. The last thing his new friend would need was a crack. Setting the spherical gem on the ground, Steven eagerly watched as she started to glow, and began to however a few feet off the ground.

A figure emerged from the green-white glow. He saw arms, legs, really long hair, and then... The gem stopped hovering, and her figure fell to the ground. Her hair suddenly grew even longer, extra arms and legs sprouted from her sides, and she gave a piercing shriek. Something was wrong with her! For the first time in his short life, Steven was face-to-face with a live, corrupted gem.

Steven gave a scream of terror as a bug-like monster emerged from the glow. He instinctively formed a bubble around himself, just before the monster's pincers could snap at him. Steven observed in fascinated horror as the corrupted gem continued to attack his bubble. The green saliva dripping from it's pincers made the ground beneath it dissolve with a nasty hissing sound. He yelped again when it jumped at his face. The shield still blocked it, but he didn't know how long it would be able to hold for against the gem monster.

The noise made by this caught the attention of all the gems in the temple. Ruby and Amethyst slipped through the ceiling, while Sapphire entered through one of the doors. Pearl was the last to arrive, with Rosie, her lion, in tow. The moment they saw what was going on, the gems snapped into action.

"They're trying to escape! Get them!"

Pearl pulled out her spear and promptly swatted the corrupted gem, doing her best to avoid the acid leaking from it's mouth. It flew towards the lion, and he caught the monster under one of his paws, crushing it. The monster gave a defeated shriek and lay still. A moment later, it returned back to it's gem. Pearl bubbled it and placed the gem with the rest of it's fellows.

In the meantime, Amethyst, Ruby, and Sapphire were trying to break the bubble that had surrounded the Home World Gem, but they were only able to make it roll back and forth. Ruby and Sapphire glanced at each other, and they both gave a nod. Hugging each other, they fused back together into Garnet. She donned her gauntlets and sent punch after punch at the bubble.

The gem remained inside of the bubble, and was only sent flying back. The bubble smacked against the temple wall, leaving a large dent in it.

"It's not working!" Garnet said. "You two, form Opal!"

Steven couldn't quite believe his eyes. Not only was the gem from before a fusion, but now they were doing it _again!_ He winced as the new fusion, Opal, combined their respective weapons to make a bow and arrows. Wave after wave of arrows were sent after him, all hitting the bubble and fading once they did so. The force sent Steven rolling farther, and the noise was deafening.

Would they keep trying to fuse until they could build something that was strong enough to break his bubble? What were they going to do to him once they did? Steven didn't want to stick around to find the answer to any of these questions. Although, he couldn't help but feel a little proud he was strong enough to stand up against even the most underhanded of tricks from these gems. At least he would have something to show Yellow Diamond for all of his efforts.

While the gems continued to attack his bubble, Steven started to roll away from them, as quickly as he possibly could. But the plan of escaping this way didn't work for long. His bubble was too big to get through the doorway, and it was impossible for him to move otherwise.

The two gems that had shot arrows at him before unfused.

"She's got some kind of Home World force field around her!" The pearl said.

"Hey! I'm a boy!" Steven protested.

"You are?" The pearl asked. "My bad! I'm just so used to the majority of gems going by she..."

"No, no. I understand, it's a common mistake." Steven dismissed.

The pearl instantly took up an aggressive stance once more, stabling his bubble with her spear.

"He's got some kind of Home World force field around him!"

"Better."

"Aw man, that is crazy!" The amethyst grumbled, kicking the bubble.

"Rosie! Try and break the bubble!" The pearl commanded.

Steven flinched, not realizing that there was another gem that he had missed. Except, the pearl was pointing at the odd, pink lion. Was it a gem who had shape-shifted into a lion for the fun of it? But then, where was her gem? It seemed to him like it was a regular lion. Well, a regular lion that was pink.

"Wait a minute, you gave your _male_ lion a _female_ name?" Steven wondered in confusion. "Even _Lion_ would be a better name for it than that!"

The amethyst laughed at this.

"Ha! He's got a point P!"

"Amethyst!" She growled.

Remembering herself, the amethyst returned to looking scary. She cracked her knuckles and made a point of punching her fist.

"First me, and now Lion." Steven muttered to himself.

"Never mind that!" The pearl huffed. "L- Rosie, attack!"

The lion didn't follow his mistress' command. He flopped down on to his back, and rubbed itself against the floor. Was the lion, purring? The pearl blushed slightly when the lion didn't listen, and stabbed the bubble with her spear once more. Steven might have smiled at this if not for the fact that he was still scared out of his wits.

These gems were incompetent, and yet he was still somehow being help prisoner by them! What would Yellow Diamond say when she found out? How disappointed would she be in him for this? Sure he could hold him up against two fusions at the same time, but he still wasn't strong or clever to get out of his predicament!

_"Wait a minute. Where's the first fusion?"_

"TAKE THIS!"

Suddenly, the fusion from before dropped down from the ceiling. Steven, caught of guard felt his bubble pop. And the fusion landing on top of him. Steven was flattened on to his back by the sudden weight on him. He heard one of his legs make a painful crunching sound. It was followed by a blinding wave of sharp pain going right down to the bone.

"Ha! Now we've got you!"

Steven didn't know what was going on, he could barely see between the pain. His eyes were starting to sting with tears, even though he knew that he shouldn't be crying over his leg. Gem warriors were strong, they weren't supposed to cry when they got hurt! The gem tried to feel the leg that was injured, but something stinging wrapped around his arms and legs, and he was dragged slightly across the floor.

Something told the gem that he was going to be poofed again, this time a little more permanently than before. He didn't want to be a pair of earrings! Or any other kind of jewelry! He wanted to live and see the universe around him! He wanted to be a powerful gem warrior some day, and help Home World expand their empire even farther! Yellow Diamond was going to be so disappointed in him...

"Garnet, wait!" The amethyst interrupted.

"Whatever it is can wait until after he's been poofed and bubbled again." The pearl sniffed.

She poked his chest with the spear once more, right in the same place where he had just been stabbed. Steven shuddered slightly as he felt this. He had trouble returning back to his gem when he was hurt. No matter how many times Yellow Diamond had him practice, there was still the risk that he could permanently damage his physical body.

"No! He's bleeding!"

"Don't be ridiculous Amethyst!" The pearl snapped. "Gems don't..."

Steven felt a finger curiously poke his injured leg. There was a moment of silence after this.

"It's blood." The softer of the three voices confirmed.

"But, he's a _gem!_ I saw you bubble him, and he was using the warp pad!" The pearl insisted.

Steven felt someone grab him by the hair, tugging his head up off the ground. One of his eyes was forced open, and some kind of light was shone in it. He whimpered at this, feeling his eye water up even more at the strange treatment. Steven attempted to push away the hand, but someone was holding his shoulders down.

"Where's your gem?"

"S-stomach."

He felt one of the gems pull up his shirt. A collective gasp was heard from the group, one much louder than the rest. Steven flinched when the pearl suddenly cried out;

"ROSE!"

The sound of scuffling was heard. Steven opened his eyes a little, his vision blury. He could see a slight blob of purple holding back what must have been the pearl. He squeezed them shut again, the light in the room hurt too much.

"Amethyst, get her out of here!"

"NO! ROSE!"

The fusion gave a light sigh.

"What kind of a gem are you?"

"A-a S-S-Steven..."

"That's not a gem."

The fusion sighed again. Steven felt a pair of arms scoop him up. At this rate, he was too tired to protest the action. He was just so tired... So... Very... Tired... And with that his world faded to black once more.


	3. A Peri-Dotty Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I ever have to write "Peridot" again, I might get sick. 
> 
> A little bit of geology for you here, zircon is a gem sometimes used in jewelry. It comes in a variety of colours, including YELLOW, red, and green. Depending on the colour when cut, it looks much like a DIAMOND, and is used as a substitute for it in cheap jewelry. However, it's just a cheap stone in most situations. 
> 
> That information will only have a tiny bit of significance in this chapter, and it's more for fun facts than anything.

Peridot's last assigned task before her break was a simple one. She merely had to sort through the data she had received from the Home World scientists. Separate relevant from the irrelevant, encrypting any of the former for safe keeping as she went. After processing the information, all she had to do was select the correct program to run it through, and then sit back to watch the computer do it's thing. Not a bad way to end the shift if she did say so herself.

Idly searching through the first few streams, she noted that it was the same old, same old regarding the gem regeneration projects, and the kindergartens. One on a planet known as Earth had their particular interest, as the gem shards that had been planted there had gotten several millenniums to grow in ideal conditions. If all followed according to their plans, they would see if the next batch of clusters was a success.

Peridot dismissed the usual run down of the hopes for the clusters, and what results were to be expected this time around. The scientists of their Home World always received the results they were looking for, it was only a matter of time until their projects developed. That meant the majority of the latest entry in their project was almost wholly irrelevant.

However, something small caught her attention before she discarded the vast majority of the report. Was it an error? Incorrect. It was a citation, referencing another project that she had not heard of before. Something called _The Quartz Resurrection Project..._

Scanning it, she derived that there was another, secondary project, related to that of the kindergartens and the clusters. Peridot tried to search for farther information on the secondary item. Access was denied. Thousands of messages popped up on to her screen. They were all written in angry, red lettering, repeating the same phrase over and over again.

_THESE FILES DO NOT FALL UNDER YOUR JURISDICTION._

Alarmed by the overwhelming number of built-in defenses and multiple threats, Peridot backed out of the link, only to have a wave of messages follow after her until the screen was filled with red. There was no way to escape the wall built in to keep other peridots out. The gem realized that she must have stumbled across something that only the higher up technicians should have access to.

Should she report this to Peri (What a ridiculous name!) the head of the Peridots? She did not know if her superior would have the authorization to see this file either. After all, Peridot was just a step below Peri. If she perhaps upgraded her programs to be around the level of Dotty (Didn't they find personalized names humiliating?), who was usually more innovative with her solutions, Peridot knew that she would be eligible for promotion.

Of course, another Peridot would have to be made to take her place and then Peri would end up without a purpose. Peridots without purposes were always deleted. Peri had been made with a more empathetic and tolerant personality compared to the slightly varying Peridots though. This was another reason why she was head overseer of the peridot programs. She could deal with her fellows and not loose her patience with them as easily as most. It made her an optimal overseer. That meant the likelihood of surpassing Peri was negligible.

Peridot shook her head a little, realizing that she had been dwelling upon the hierarchy of gem society for too long. Her screen saver had popped up. Peridot finally decided that the restricted files could be pushed into the irrelevant pile, based upon the fact that, while related to the project, it was not directly involved. That left it to sit with the usual repetitive data.

The only problem was the continuous messages that she had activated. After a little trial and error, Peridot discovered that she was able to push them to the side for around one tenth of a second before another took it's place. She was able to drag the restricted data over to the irrelevant pile with some creative maneuvering past them. Once her focus was no longer on the problem, all of the pop ups went away.

Giving a sigh of relief, Perdiot disconnected herself from the computer. The cyber-world around her instantly vanished, revealing the properly-sized cubical she resided in. The grey-green walls were a stark contrast to the mainly intense green of her computer. It gave her eyes a relief, and prevented any strain that she would have felt otherwise. The entire room she had, like all the others, was built around ergonomics. So long as she was comfortable and had enough working space, not much else was needed. It meant that she would work efficiently to help keep the Home World's many projects running smoothly.

Pulling out her fingers from their respective plug-ins, Peridot stretched and gave a yawn. She was so tired that she almost wanted to sleep! Sleep was a non-productive option though. It was almost as un-productive as using her break to go outside! Only a lesser, obsolete gem, like a pearl would actually have the will to sleep. Simple menial clean-up tasks could be run instead. It took little to no focus from her, and it allowed her main processor to cool down.

Speaking of which... Peridot scowled when she realized one of her fingers was still stuck in it's spot. It was from the heat of the computer no doubt, making it stick in place. This was always happening to her! She had informed Peri over and over again to request that the plugs were a quarter of a millimeter wider! Naturally, any more than that would be much too large. She had done the calculations and everything! Of course, the complaint still had to file through, or so she was told. They probably just filed complaints into a bottomless pit.

Grumbling slightly, Peridot viciously yanked her finger out of the slot. She flexed her hand until the finger managed to sync up with the other four once again. At this rate, she was going to have to ask for a replacement finger! Honesty! If _she_ were in charge of the peridot operation, things would be oh, so much easier! But of course not! It was almost like the Home World _wanted_ to keep them in the dark ages!

Just then, Peridot's fingers started to buzz. At first, she thought it was an effect of the heat. (Which she was going to blame for any other problems her physical body came across as of now.) But she quickly realized that someone was attempting to contact her. She arranged four of her fingers into a screen, letting the one that had been trapped stick this round out.

Peri instantly appeared on the screen. The slightly greener gem looked somewhat frazzled, and her hair seemed to be out of place. Disgusting, what a horrible way to conduct herself. This was exactly why _she_ should be head of the peridots! Or at least have some say in how they should be run! She deserved a promotion for all that she had done over the years! Surely Peri would be considered obsolete sooner or later!

"Peridot Six-Eighteen!" Peri cried.

"Reporting."

"You'll never believe who I just got a call from!"

Peridot sneered slightly. She had always disliked the way her fellow peridot had talked in such an unprofessional way as well. It was supposedly there to make her seem more relatable amongst them, but she merely found it undignified. Crossing her arms, she dully replied;

"Elaborate."

"It was _Yellow Diamond's_ secretary!" Peri said. "Peridot, what was the last task you went through today? Is there anything we should know about?"

This brought alarm to the forefront of her mind. Of course that citation had to get in her way! Peridot had figured it was very restricted information, but she didn't think it was so restricted that Yellow Diamond's secretary would be the one contacting them! What was she supposed to do?! What was she supposed to say?! Would the restricted information cause complications?! Would they want to take her in to get her memory banks erased?! Whole personalities could be lost through processes like that!

"I-I..."

The screen suddenly blacked out for a moment, and a wave of static washed over it. Peri returned, looking even more stressed by the moment.

"She's trying to contact me again!" She nervously stated. "Peridot, I don't know how much longer I can hold the line before-"

Static buzzed on her screen once more. For a terrified moment, Peridot thought that she should just close her screen and then hide in her computer. Before she could even attempt to follow the crazy idea, a new image popped up on the screen. This one was a strict-looking gem, a pale yellow with some brown accents. She looked wrinkled and sour. Peridot was too frightened to absorb any more details than that of the gem.

"This is Zircon calling in, _Yellow_ Zircon." She declared in a haughty, yet screechy voice. "Peridot Six-Eighteen are you there?"

"P-present." She nearly whispered. "I read you loud and clearly."

"Speak up!"

"Present!" Peridot repeated. "What is it that you require?"

"Are you aware that seven minutes ago, you attempted to access restricted files?"

Thinking back to the millions of messages attacking her, Peridot could confirm that she indeed remembered that happening.

"I am aware. I was given a link to them through the latest data I received. Once I realized this, I did my best to back away from the area and sort it accordingly to what little I knew."

"Spare me your life story and tell me if you knew you were aware!"

Peridot wondered if the gem was hard of hearing, or if the connection on her end was merely coming out fuzzy.

"I was aware." Peridot repeated.

"How much did you receive?"

"I only saw the title for it. And the defenses around it."

"WHAT?!"

"I repeat, the title of the restricted file was _The Quartz Resurrection Project._ "

"I already know that!" Zircon yelled at her. "But you shouldn't! You know too much!"

Despite the fact that it was coming from a senile old gem, Peridot couldn't help but shiver slightly. Was she part of a physical path? If she was now linked to the project, however unwittingly, she could pose a potential risk. All Home World projects were highly restricted in knowledge. This one happened to be a step above the rest already. What if erasing her memory banks wasn't enough? What if the only way to get rid of her as a threat was to... Delete her?

"Have I errored in the course of action to take?" Peridot wondered.

"Yellow Diamond wants to speak to you herself!"

Peridot was practically winded by the words she had never expected to hear.

"S-she w-wants- Y-Yellow D-Diamond- w-wants-?"

"What, are you hard of hearing? Plug in to your computer to receive farther instructions!"

The message ended there, and her fingers returned back to their usual places. Despite herself, Peridot glared at the plug-ins. She wanted to wait at least a little for them to cool down before she ended up breaking off all her fingers thanks to them. But Yellow Diamond wanted to talk to her. She was just a peridot! How could she want to talk to her? Peridot hadn't even seen Yellow Diamond in person before let alone actually said a word to her! How was she supposed to address her?! How was she supposed to act?!

This was going to kill her! It wouldn't be the quarter of a millimeter too thin plug-ins that would kill her, it wouldn't be Peri's sickening attitude or Dotty's creative programming. No, those were all small in comparison to what she was faced with now. Yellow Diamond was going to talk with her! She was going to die at the hands of Yellow Diamond!

How had a simple citation lead to all of this?

Peridot stuck her fingers back into the computer, shuddering slightly as she felt the already overheating sockets. She was surprised to not see much before her, other than a screen projecting the Home World's crest.

"Can you hear me?"

Peridot almost jumped straight out of the computer when she heard the voice. Was that-?

"This is Yellow Diamond." The voice confirmed. "Peridot Six-Eighteen, as of now, you are one of three gems, excluding the scientists and subject, aware of this project."

"I should have never errored in discovering-"

"Despite your apologies, this has still happened." She continued. "The scientist who gave you the link has been dealt with accordingly."

Peridot shuddered at this, knowing exactly what "dealt with" happened to mean.

"However, this error can be used to benefit the Home World. Proceed to track this information, and narrow it down to a galaxy if possible."

Without a warning, Peridot was flattened under the sheer amount of information bearing down upon her. She couldn't handle it. There was so much, she couldn't see through it all. There was too much to think about, too much for her to remember all at once. She was going to fry before she could store everything properly.

Remembering who was no doubt watching and tracking her, the gem gritted her teeth and did her best to remain headstrong against the shock. There was just too much data. She needed to scan for threats, but she also had to encrypt and decipher at the same time. The files weren't designed for a peridot to handle. That just proved that, she shouldn't have been able to access this.

She had to translate it into what she now knew was a crude medium. She was nothing compared to the real computer heads of the Home World. Her computing skills were all archaic when compared to what she was sorting through now. How had she ever thought that any of her ideas were innovative? She was just a peridot, nothing she did was unpredictable. Nothing she had ever done made her an outlier between all of the peridots there were.

Never before had Peridot felt so small, and insignificant. Even with all her intelligence, she was still no better than the average peridot. All she really happened to be was a... A pearl! She may as well have been a pearl that had been updated beyond recognition! She knew this now, all from the endless information that overwhelmed her mind.

Peridot took in the project details, learning every significant fact relating to it. The test subject had simply vanished into thin air. She now needed to figure out how to access the tracer embeded in the subject's gem so that something could be done to retrieve it. She found that she could see all of the subject's vitals, and an elaborate diagram of it's body was visible. She could make out all the layers that the body was composed of. She could check on the status of a certain layer in it's skin, or even the marrow that filled the subject's bones if she so desired.

So... Much... She was going to overheat, her fingers would be stuck in the computer for good at this rate. Her mind needed more time to process everything that was racing through it, but she wasn't given the opportunity to let her processor rest. Constant streams of information continued to fly past her.

It ended, finally. Peridot felt better after that. By receiving access to the restricted files, her intelligence was not that of the standard peridot model. No, she was better than that, she was a superior peridot! Peridot was a Peridot with a capital P thanks to her new-found intelligence!

She now saw that Peri, while simple, was essential to the process. She was needed as a buffer between the peridot programs and an actual authority figure. Peri was an approachable figure, but was little more than a puppet. Or perhaps a walking security camera would be a better description. She reported everything straight to the higher ups of the Home World, and prevented any problems from going out of control.

Peridot saw so much _more_ than that as well.

From where she sat, observing the peridot, Yellow Diamond smiled. A terrifying sight.

If that idiotic gem had been designed with stronger senses of empathy, and a reversed moral compass, her reaction to the upgrade would have been much different. She would have been horrified with how much she truly knew about the controlling grip of the Home World (Not that _she_ had a problem with _that.)_ and how far they were willing to go with their experiments. (Nor that.) Perhaps a pearl-like reaction could have been elicited from her. It was a good thing pearls had been discontinued during the war.

But instead of reacting to any of the things she had learned, the gem's programs just redirected them to her head. Both literally and figuratively. The arrogance each peridot had was there to inspire competitiveness, thus forwarding productivity. So, rather than feeling horror at the project information, the peridot just got an inflated ego. An even larger ego than she had possessed before. This particular model seemed especially self-centered.

"I've located the signal you were looking for." The peridot said. "They reach some unnamed galaxy, I've seen it mentioned a few times in my reports."

"Bring up a picture."

Peridot brought up a picture of a spiral galaxy, one that she had seen before from a few illustrations in her reports. It was supposedly located in a restricted zone. No regular gems were allowed to even travel within it's vicinity, and there were supposedly no warp pads leading there. This was where the special cluster and abandoned kindergarten were located. Not much information was given on this place outside of what she knew from her tasks. Although now, Peridot supposed it had some kind of cover-up behind it. Perhaps something to do with the many projects of the Home World?

"How many planets are currently under our jurisdiction right now?"

"Two thousand are under our control. Out of those, over seventy-seven percent are of no farther use to us. However, two thousand and _one_ out of all these planets have had gem activity on them within the past ten thousand years."

"Can you track the signal to there?"

Peridot wondered where the notation had come from, but did as she was told and checked. Sure enough, the signal she was supposed to be searching for could be narrowed down to the afformented planet.

"Affirmative."

Yellow Diamond let out a long breath. So he had somehow ended up on Earth? Could it be the work of those traitors? Stupid question, it was the work of those traitors! Somehow they'd manage to warp him off the planet!

"What's his status?"

The peridot didn't respond right away.

"Injured."

"Fatally?"

"Negative. It looks like he has not been hurt enough to retreat to his gem."

That was even worse than him being trapped in his gem! As much as she would have liked to send the army after her disciple, it was not practical, and too much confusion and havoc would be caused by it. The gem instead developed a more practical plan to retrieve her disciple from those filthy traitors.

She would simply hand this peridot back to her superior. From there she would use tell the head peridot to sent _this_ peridot and her inflated ego to "investigate" the various kindergartens in the area. Not only would it help further their projects, the peridot would be sure to discover any gem activity currently occurring on the planet. That meant she would know how much force had to be used to rescue her student. Of course, there was a chance of the peridot being caught and smashed by those that remained, but that was hardly a problem.

Peridots, like any gem that wasn't important, were replacable after all. Besides, it _was_ rather difficult to keep a secret between more than one gem. Especially when it came to very important projects that were kept heavily shrouded in secrecy.

Who knew? Maybe her shards would be the one to finally perfect the cluster.

"Peridot Six-Eighteen, I have a _special_ assignment for you."


	4. Informal Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gems aren't the most... Sympathetic in this chapter but it'll change, I promise.

When Steven woke up, he instantly attempted to get up to his feet. But he was flattened back down again as a wave of pain washed over his body. He squeezed his hands into fists and bit his lip, trying to deal with the searing pain he felt throughout his body. If felt like he had been hit with an asteroid. No, worse than that.

His left eye wasn't feeling so hot. The skin around it seemed puffy and inflamed. He probably couldn't see out of it right now. But his leg especially seemed to hurt. It felt like it had a pulse of it's own, throbbing painfully, as if a second heart was growing beneath the surface of his shattered bones. There seemed to be some heavy weight keeping his injured leg pinned down on the surface he was laying on. Maybe they'd shackled him to it. A few attempts to move it proved that he couldn't even move with his leg in such a strange position.

Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to feel his surroundings. All Steven could tell about the place he was in was that it was bright. Much too bright. The gem tried to listen for anything else that might give him a hint to what his surroundings were like. He heard a slight humming noise coming from somewhere. The source seemed to be the room itself. It didn't sound like anyone was breathing either, so wherever he happened to be, he was alone. That didn't mean those scary Crystal Gems weren't watching him.

Unless they had poofed him and shattered his gem so that he was now dead. Steven felt like he probably wasn't dead though, something in his gut said so. Those gems had all freaked out after seeing his own gem. Maybe it was because they realized who he was, and they didn't want to get in trouble with Yellow Diamond.

Steven opened his uninjured eye, and found himself face-to-upside-down-face with the amethyst. Steven screamed and instinctively shielded his face.

"Please don't turn me into an anklet!"

The amethyst pulled her face away from his and gave a laugh.

"Ha! You should've seen the look on your face!" She snorted, slapping her knees.

"T-that's not funny!" He sniffled, doing his best not to blush.

"Awww, cheer up Steven! It's just a joke!"

"H-how do you k-know my name?"

"You told Garnet, remember?"

Steven could vaguely recall talking to the fusion before he had passed out, and nodded. Giving a quick glance around the room, he saw that it was all barren, except for a door, and the bed he was resting on. It was much more spacious than his room! Although, the grey metal walls weren't exactly that inviting to look at. And he wouldn't be surprised if the gems had some way of watching him in this cell. At least the bed was somewhat comfortable. He couldn't even make out where his legs were under the layers of blankets that had been piled on top of him.

"Did you hold your breath the whole time I was waking up?"

"Yup!" She grinned, puffing out her cheeks. "You shoulda' seen how purple my face was! Of course, it's always been purple, but..."

She trailed off, obviously waiting for him to laugh at her statement. The amethyst didn't seem too menacing right now, maybe he could let his guard down a little bit with her. The gems wouldn't instantly try to hurt him, would they? Steven managed to give her a weak smile in return.

"You know my name." He nervously started. "Do you have one?"

"Amethyst." The gem introduced.

"I know what kind of gem you are, I'm asking if you have a name."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not _an_ amethyst, I'm _the_ Amethyst." Amethyst declared. "Just like Pearl's a pearl and Garnet's well, Garnet."

Steven wasn't really surprised by that response. A lot of gems he knew just referred to themselves based upon the type of gem they were. Apparently nicknames were somewhat looked down upon as a thing that the common, menial gems did. It supposedly made them feel more important, and because of that, more of an individual than the rest. Steven had figured that a Crystal Gem would have been opposed to that kind of thinking, but maybe he was wrong.

"R-really?" He wondered. "You didn't give yourself names?"

"Nope!"

"Ok." Steven slowly responded. "So Amethyst, is there a reason why my leg is super heavy?"

The amethyst, or rather, Amethyst, grabbed the blankets and pulled them off of the bed. Steven was instantly exposed to the slightly chilly air of the cell. He shivered slightly as the heat left him, and crossed his arms. Looking down at his hurt leg, Steven saw that it had been encased in some kind of white stone. It looked a little like it was crumbling near the edges. It forced him to keep his leg stiff, facing straight outwards. Was this their version of a leg restraint? Because he was really not liking it!

"Garnet really crushed your leg there!" Amethyst grinned. "Luckily Vidalia, she's the coolest person on this planet by the way, had a friend who knew human medicine and stuff. He got you all wrapped up in this thing, no questions asked. Well, he did ask questions, but Garnet got him to shut up. He says that you'll have to wear it for like, ten weeks."

Although he didn't fully realize it, Steven took this as a good sign. He was still going to be alive by the time that ten weeks on this planet had passed by then. But, how did time work on this planet? How quickly did it rotate?

"How long are days on your planet?"

"Twenty-four hours."

Steven instantly relaxed at hearing this.

"Oh, not so bad then."

"No, that doctor said that yours was more serious, and that if it was a small fracture, it would only take six weeks. Most humans wouldn't be able to walk properly with what you've got, but luckily you're not like most humans, eh Steven?"

Steven tensed up again as Amethyst said this.

"I-I- how do you know that?"

That was supposed to be a secret that only Yellow Diamond and a few scientists knew about! She wouldn't be happy to know that these gems had figured out her secret! He was going to be in so much trouble for this!

"It's kinda' obvious man." Amethyst said, poking his stomach. "Gems don't bleed. But humans do."

"You can't tell anyone!" Steven insisted. "That's supposed to be a secret!"

"What are you exactly?" Amethyst curiously asked, trying to get a second glance at his gem.

Steven pushed away her hands.

"You can't tell anyone!"

"Ok! Yeesh, relax man, I won't tell anyone!"

"I'm half-gem and half-human." He admitted to her. "And you can't tell anyone! Yellow Diamond would be-"

"Who's Yellow Diamond?" She asked.

"My teacher." Steven said.

"Is she a good teacher?"

"She's great!" The boy smiled. "But really strict too. I like the fighting lessons we do though! I get to meet all sorts of cool gems that have fought in all these space wars. That's the best part!"

Amethyst smiled and nodded at that.

"So, this Yellow Diamond, what else does she do?"

"Oh, well she's also a really important gem and does a lot for Home World. I'm not really sure what exactly she does, but I haven't met any other Yellow Diamonds before, so she must be important. She's really good at being scary too, and a lot of the gems are frightened of her. One time we were watching these two super-strong warrior gems spar, and when they saw that she was there, they-"

Steven continued on without saying anything of much importance. Amethyst felt herself warming up to the kid right away. He talked a lot, but he wasn't stuck up about things either. Steven was nothing like what she expected a Home World Gem to be. It must have had to do with his human side. He just seemed genuinely happy to have someone to talk to now that no one was attempting to knock him out. Because of this, Amethyst began to tune out what he was saying a little more.

"Hehe, yeah, that's whatever you were talking about for you."

The sight of his gem was enough to sent Pearl into a stupor, and make Garnet even more brooding and quiet than she already had been for the past while. Amethyst however, didn't see what all the fuss was about. So he had a gem that looked exactly like Rose's! Plenty of gems looked exactly the same! It wasn't like there were an infinite number of different gems out there. Sooner or later, even the rarest would have to be grown again.

Amethyst hadn't actually seen Rose before, but she had heard the stories, and on a few occasions, seen the half of her gem they had. Pearl always kept it bubbled. The one time she had taken it out, an arm reformed. And it went without saying that it sent Pearl into a frenzy, and the gem could not bring herself to poof and bubble it. It had been up to her to bubble Rose and return her to Rosie. The lion had a special place inside of her mane that only Pearl was able to access, and this was where she kept the majority of Rose's things.

For some reason she couldn't understand, Steven having the same gem as her sent the both of her teammates off the deep end. Garnet was more stable than Pearl of course, but the fusion was still going through long periods of silence, and only talked to herself. Or rather her _selves._ Steven had a _whole_ gem. Rose was split in _half._ Why would they think he had anything to do with Rose?

"Amethyst?"

The gem shook herself out of her thoughts, and gave Steven a grin.

"Huh? What? Yeah?"

"I can go without eating for a bit, but I still need nutrients some of the time."

"Oh, I was prepared for that!" She grinned. "And Pearl said that I never plan ahead!"

The gem pulled a bag of chips out of her shirt and tossed them to Steven.

"What are these?" He asked in confusion.

"Chips, duh!"

"But I need nutritious supplements, not, chiaps."

"They're pronounced, chips." Amethyst said, opening up the bag. "And you need food to get energy right? How do you normally eat?"

"Well, usually, I just go to the infirmary and have the vitamins and proteins I need injected into-"

"Whoa, that's some crazy nerd talk." Amethyst interrupted. "So you're telling me, you've never actually eaten before?"

"No. Does it hurt?"

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Just copy what I do."

Taking a single chip, she opened her mouth and placed it inside. She then proceeded to chew and swallow the chip. The entire time, Steven watched in fascination at the process. Then he took a chip of his own and tried eating it. Slowly chewing his food, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. Then his eyes grew wide and he grabbed a handful of chips.

"Why didn't you tell me eating was so great?!"

Laughing, Amethyst flicked a chip at him.

"See? Not so bad! I bet it's way better than whatever you were doing before."

Steven nodded in agreement, continuing to eat the chips.

"I guess you'll need a toilet now..." Amethyst speculated to herself. "And a sink and shower."

Concentrating on the walls and floor of the temple, Amethyst managed to adjust the properties of the cell, so that he had a little bathroom area to use as well.

"Thanks for that."

"No problem!"

Steven went back to eating the chips. After a minute or so longer of silence, the boy spoke up again.

"What are you guys planning to do with me?"

Amethyst's smile faded at the question. But before she had to figure out what to say to the kid, she was saved. Or rather, maybe the saved term was debatable. Seeing as it was Pearl who stepped into the room.

"AMETHYST!" Pearl yelled. "Get out of there this instant! You have no idea what you're dealing with!"

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Chill out P, I was just talking to Steven." Glancing at the bag of chips, she added; "You finished with those?"

Steven nodded and handed her the empty bag of chips. Pearl looked like she was going to explode when she heard her address the boy by his name.

"OUT!"

Amethyst tossed the blankets back on Steven, and then made her way out of the cell. Steven winced as Pearl slammed the door behind the two of them. He could hear the two of them bickering, even as they went down what must have been a hall. Apparently wherever he was, it did not happen to be sound proof.

Giving a sigh, he reached for the blankets, and did his best to wrap up in them. Steven turned on his side, wincing when his leg gave a warning jolt of pain. He wasn't tired, but there was not much else that he could do while locked in the cell. Without Amethyst there, everything returned to being quiet, except for the humming sound that echoed across the walls.

Amethyst had been surprisingly nice. Especially compared to the amethysts he had interacted with in the past. She seemed nowhere near as rabid and bloodthirsty as them. That came as a bit of a relief seeing as he was at their mercy. He hadn't been turned into jewelry or corrupted. They hadn't even tried to hurt him just because he was a Home World Gem. She was pretty funny too. At least when she wasn't scaring him up.

So, while his leg was broken in places, and he had the displeasure of receiving a black eye, he was still alive. He had been forced back into his gem after receiving a spear to the chest, but he was still alive. Now, if only they weren't holding him as a prisoner in one of their cells... He really just wanted to get back home so that he could one day look back on this situation and laugh. But something told Steven that things would not be heading this way.

In his training, Steven had been forced back to his gem many times in an effort to make his physical body stronger, and to teach him to regenerate faster. At least, that was how it was supposed to work in theory. The human part of him could leave him open to certain risks, including death. This training didn't stop him from being scared of getting hurt though, and it was one of his biggest fears that one day he wouldn't be able to regenerate from his gem.

Being faced with gems who were constantly (At least, it felt rather constant to him.) Injuring him made things look bad. Even if Amethyst was nice, it seemed like they were not just going to let him leave. They might see him as some kind of threat. Or just their flat out enemy, meaning that they'd simply want to hold him here forever.

The sound of voices caught his attention. Steven pressed his ear against the wall of the cell, and found that he was able to hear the gems in the next room over. The walls here really were not that thick. It seemed like a bit of a design flaw to Steven. What if he had super punching powers like Garnet did? Then he could blast through his cell in no time!

"I can't believe that you just went in there! Without telling either of us!" Pearl reprimanded.

"As if you'd let me if I _did_ tell you!"

"Well, did you at least learn anything useful from him?"

Steven felt his stomach twist a little at hearing this.

"What am I, a complete idiot? Of course I did!"

"And?"

"He bleeds because he's half-human half-gem."

"But-"

"He doesn't seem to have anything do with R-"

Steven didn't hear any more of the conversation after this, he pulled his head away from the wall and lay flat out on his back. Tears stung at his eyes, which he quickly tried to swipe away from his face. Gem warriors didn't cry! But Amethyst- No, she wasn't Amethyst, he was _an_ amethyst- had lied to him! She had said she wouldn't tell the others and then she had gone and done so without hesitation!

He had thought that maybe she was an ok gem. She was probably just faking the nice part of herself all along! How could he have been so dumb? Why had he trusted her to not tell the others when he had woken up with her face right in front of his! She thought that scaring him was funny! Decent gems didn't do that to other gems! He took back what he had thought about her being better than most amethysts. She was easily just as mean as the rest of them, just in a different way!

Their entire conversation, she was just pulling his leg. She was _using_ him! Steven felt awful, realizing that he had completely fallen for her friendly act. He was so dumb to think that he could simply trust a gem that he had just met, especially one that had the intentions of trying to use him as a tool to get information on himself and the Home World.

Well he wouldn't let anything like that happen again. He wouldn't talk to any of those Crystal Mean-Faces if they came back in to his cell. He'd escape or die trying, and he wouldn't let his guard down around any of them like he had during their past few encounters. Steven made a resolution to never try trusting any of them again. He would get out of his prison and back to Home World, and he'd make Yellow Diamond proud while he was at it.

* * *

Steven fell back to sleep, and was once again woken up by the amethyst intruding into his cell. Steven ignored her presence, and kept his head buried underneath the pillow that he had been given.

_"Heeey_ Stee-Man!" She cheerfully greeted. "I'm back!"

Amethyst was somewhat surprised to not receive a response. After all, the kid had been so cheerful and talkative yesterday. Maybe he just wasn't a morning person?

"Come on Steven! Get up!" Amethyst said, poking his back.

"Go away!" His muffled voice said.

"But it's a brand new day! Come on!"

"I don't want to talk!"

"But-"

"Go away!"

"What? Sure you do! What's eatin' ya'? Asides from the obvious."

Steven lifted his head up from underneath his pillow. To her surprise, the boy looked like he had been crying. His eyes were pink-red and his face was no better. A stray tear leaked from his black eye. She stared at his heart-broken expression in shock, not knowing what to think of the sudden change in moods.

"Y-you promised!" Steven sobbed.

Instantly, the gem felt her stomach plummet.

"Right..." She mumbled, kissing her teeth. "I kinda' _had_ to tell Pearl, otherwise she woulda' gotten all screechy and annoying."

"That's not the point!" He cried. "You lied to me!"

"Well if it helps, I'm sorry?" She half-asked, half-said.

"It won't help! Go away!"

The door was slammed shut. Steven could hear her grumbling, cursing herself and the pearl all the way back to her room.

* * *

"Steven."

This time it was the pearl speaking to him. Steven was sitting upright on the bed with his back against the wall and legs resting straight out in front of him. So they had sent the pearl after him in the hopes to get her to do something. He supposed it was her fault for asking A- _the_ amethyst questions about him.

But he wasn't mad at the pearl though! No, he was mad at her! He was mad at her and the Crystal Jerks for not letting him leave! But he was especially made at the amethyst for pretending to be nice to him, just so that he could spill all the beans on who he was and the Home World. Sure he hadn't said anything really important about the Home World, at least, not that he knew of, but if he had, she would have said so. Breaking a promise on top of using him took the cake.

"Amethyst told me that you require food to survive."

"I'd be surprised if she _didn't."_ He mumbled.

Ignoring his angry tone of voice, the pearl continued to speak.

"So, I figured that we could get you to start doing a few more human things as well, to help you get in touch with your human side. Earth is your species' Home Planet after all."

The boy looked up at her, wondering if the gem was being serious.

"The Earth is not my home! Home World is!"

"But your species originates from here!" She insisted.

Glaring at her, Steven pulled up his shirt and pointed at his gem.

_"Half_ of my species originates from here! And the other half is where home is!"

The pearl's smile became slightly more forced as he continued to resist her offer.

"Steven, we're just trying to make your stay here somewhat easier on you."

"Stay here?! You're keeping me prisoner!"

"It's not like you have any way to get back." She pointed out.

Steven didn't listen to any of this, as he continued to get worked up. He couldn't belive that they were trying to brainwash him into liking this planet. The only worthwhile planet was the Home World. Nothing could ever replace life there. Especially not some dirt ball place that he hadn't actually seen before!

"If you don't let me go, the Home World will find out! And then they'll-"

He froze when the pearl pulled out her weapon once more. She didn't point it at him, but she kept it at her side.

"Why would the Home World send anyone to look for you?" She interrogated. "How many other gems do they have exactly like you? How many of them look exactly like _her?"_

After finishing, Steven realized how her grip had tightened on the spear, like she was ready to send it straight through his gem if given the chance. Steven didn't like the way the last question was phrased either. Something about the way she had said it made him feel slightly nervous.

"I-I don't know who you're talking about!"

"Everyone is replaceable on Home World Steven. _You_ made me realize that."

Suddenly, the pearl stepped closer to him. She traced around his gem with the point of her spear before resting it in the centre of his gem.

"So tell me, how many other _Stevens_ are there out there? For all we know, they wouldn't bother to even look for you."

"There's only one of me!" He yelled back at her. "That's why I told Amethyst not to tell anyone!"

Surprised at the answer, the pearl pulled away from his gem. But she recovered her composure within seconds.

"Even so, no one knows where you went or how to find you."

"They'll be able to find me!"

That was Steven's only bluff that he had. He wasn't so sure himself if they would be able to find him here. But, they could sense gem activity, and they would know this wasn't one of their planets and come to investigate... Eventually.

"Oh please!" The pearl snorted. "Home World doesn't have the technology to do that!"

"How would you know? You're just a pearl!"

The entire room went silent, as the two gems stared at each other. Then, a snapping sound was heard. Steven looked at the pearl's hands in shock. She had split her weapon clean in half. The pieces glowed white and then vanished. Just as quickly, the pearl grabbed another spear from her gem to use.

"What did you just say?" She asked, her voice turning deadly soft.

Steven was not about to back down. He felt his stomach twist and turn slightly, but he paid no mind to the growing feeling within it. The boy struggled to his feet, awkwardly standing with his broken leg sticking out in a funny position. Haphazardly, he leaned towards the pearl to finish his sentence. With each word, he stuck his finger in to her chest.

"You're. Just. A. Pearl!"

Each word seemed to hit like a physical blow. The pearl recoiled in shock at hearing the words. Surprise turned into fury, and Steven knew that this would be the end for him. The boy closed his eyes and shielded his face, hoping that death would come quickly and easily. It didn't. Instead, he heard something clatter to the ground.

Steven opened his eyes, and saw that his word was obscured by a pink shield. It was roatating slightly, and there was a rose pattern emblazoned on the front of it. His weapon! He had finally managed to summon and see what it was! He had a shield! His own shield to use when he became a gem warrior! Yellow Diamond would be so proud of- But she wasn't here. The only other gem with him was the pearl. She had fallen on to her knees, her spear forgotten as she stared at the shield.

"Your shield... It looks exactly like _her's..."_

She got back up to her feet and ran out of the cell. Once more, the door was slammed shut. With the thin walls between them, it was easy for him to hear her choking sobs as she ran away.

* * *

Since Steven had been visited by both the amethyst and the pearl, he figured that the fusion was probably up next on their rotation of visiting schedule. This time, he was prepared. Steven would sneak out of the room as she stepped inside. The fusion was so tall that she wouldn't even realize at first! That's what she'd get for keeping fused like she was! The disadvantage of being tall!

The second he got out, Steven would form inside his bubble and then roll his way to freedom. So that even if the gems did manage to catch up with him, there would be nothing that they could do to him. Asides from startling himself into popping it. But he would keep his eyes on them at all times, and not let himself get crushed by any sort of giant woman again! This plan was fool proof! He'd get out of here and find his way home if it was the last thing he did!

Putting his plan into action, Steven limped to where the door was and waited beside it. He didn't know how long it would take for her to show up. Steven just hoped that it wasn't long. He didn't know how long his leg could hold up before it really stared to hurt him. The cast he was trapped in was awkward and clunky. It gave him trouble moving, and he had to do everything in strange positions as not to bend his leg. Human medical procedures were so strange.

Steven's heart began to race as he watched the door knob slowly twist, and the door open. Just as the fusion stepped inside the room, he made a move to slip through the door, while she was focused on the pillow-Steven he had assumbled under the blankets. The lumps were supposed to make it look like he was just sleeping.

Without even looking at him, the fusion placed a hand on his forehead, stopping Steven in his tracks.

"Aw come on! How did you even see me?!"

"You'd be surprised how much I see."

Leaning against her hand, Steven tried to punch the fusion's leg. Instead of making impact, she merely pushed him farther away from her. Steven was now too short to even reach her leg. Steven however continued to fight and squirm in the hopes of at least doing something to the fusion.

"No fair! You two are fused! If you were short again I could get past you! Well, one of you."

"I doubt that." She said. "Here's your food."

Garnet picked up Steven and tucked him in under her arm, not bothered in the slightest as he continued to fight against her. He continued to yell at her, complaining about being man-handled and kept prisoner. Then she rearranged the mess he had made out of the pillows and blankets. The fusion dropped him on the bed, along with the tray of food.

Steven quickly made a grab for her leg and clung on to her. Garnet didn't do anything until she reached the door of the cell once more. Much to her surprise, she had a great deal of trouble trying to peel Steven off of her leg. The boy held fast and refused to let go. Garnet tried shaking him a little, but that did just as little.

The gem realized that the boy was now starting to cry on her.

"I want to go home!"

Eventually, she managed to wrench him off of her leg. Holding the boy, she was forced not to stare into the puppy eyes he was purposely using. He almost looked a bit like Rose when he made that expression... No. It was a trick, he was trying to make her feel sympathetic towards him with his cuteness. Even if he did have an adorable face- No, it was an act. Home World hated fusion, hated them. He probably would have smashed them if they weren't stronger. Although, he hadn't actually insulted them being fused as much as he recalled other gems doing...

No. It. Was. A. Trick. She wasn't going to fall for it. Garnet returned him to his bed, only to have him grab his other leg. Growling slightly, she went through the same process again. And again. Eventually she wised up and realized that she would simply have to put him down and then make a break for it. Garnet did exactly that, slamming the door to the cell behind her. Right away, she heard the gem trying the door knob, rattling it as much as he could and pounding a fist on the door.

"Let me go! I just wanna' go home!"

As she left to go to her room, she could still hear his crying echoing through the temple. Garnet made a mental note to soundproof the cell.


	5. The Light Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a more light-hearted one than the rest. Ha! Get it? Light? That joke will make a lot more sense once you read the chapter, and then you'll have to stop reading in order to laugh as you get it. Hopefully it will make you smile a little. I grin at it, but that could just be me.

Amethyst was hanging out with Vidalia. After what felt like an eternity, Amethyst had finally gotten Vidalia to find a way to get rid of her son. The little dude was... Interesting to say the least, and no babysitter in their right mind was willing to take care of him. After some creative bribery and threats, they managed to get his older brother to take care of him for a little while.

This way, the two of them could hang out and not have to worry about him running off, or watching what words they said in front of him. Sure Amethyst had never actually seen the kid talk before, but Vidalia still insisted that they had to watch the language they used in front of him. She was the mom after all, so Amethyst supposed that she probably knew more about human parenting than herself. At least she didn't rub it in her face like Pearl would have.

"So, do you wanna' get some dinner then?" Amethyst asked.

"Am I paying again?" Vidalia wondered. "Because I don't have my wallet on me."

The gem frowned at this. Normally, when ever she wanted food, she had to go to Pearl to ask for money. She didn't know where Pearl was getting it from exactly, but she had it. The problem was that with no money, she had no way to eat food. Her stomach growled slightly at the thought of not eating. Luckily, and idea struck.

"Oh! I know! We can go ask for fry bits!"

"Aren't those like, grease soup with crumbs swimming in it?"

"I know! Sounds delicious right?" Amethyst asked, smacking her lips. "Come on! I bet Fryman will still be there!"

Grabbing her friend's hand, Amethyst pulled Vidalia across the board walk to where the fry place was situated. Fryman was just starting to close the restaurant as the duo ran up to him. Pounding her fist against the greasy counter, Amethyst said;

"Hey Fryman, give me the bits!"

The man shook his head and pointed to the sign next to him.

"Amethyst, we're closed."

"Aww, what?" She whined.

Vidalia hit the counter as well. She may have not wanted any of the fry bits, but she wasn't going to pay for whatever crazy meal Amethyst wanted either. It was her turn to be paying for food after all.

"Give em' the bits!" She rhythmically began to hit the counter, chanting in time with the sound. "The bits! The bits! The-"

Amethyst grinned and quickly joined in with her friend. They continued with the chant until the counter had jarred loose from their fists hitting it. Realizing that the two were not going to stop until he gave them the fry bits, the man relented;

"Okay, okay, take it easy on the counter, will ya'?"

Defeated, the man went over to the deep fryer in the back, and began to empty the fry bits into a paper bag for them. Vidalia and Amethyst looked at each other and grinned. They high fived at their success in getting what they wanted once again.

"I've still got it." Vidalia smirked.

The man handed them their free food, and the two set on their way down the board walk.

"You wanna' try some?" Amethyst asked between a mouthful of fry bits. "They're extra oily!"

Glancing down at the bag that was practically dripping grease from the corners, Vidalia shook her head.

"No thanks, I need to watch my cholesterol." The woman said, patting her hips.

"Your loss."

They were both silent for a moment, as Amethyst continued to munch on her food.

"Hey Amethyst?"

"Mhm?"

"Has the moon always looked like a giant eyeball?"

Glancing at where Vidalia was pointing, Amethyst gasped in shock, dropping her bag of fry bits.

"This is not good! Vidalia, I need to go!"

Leaving her fry bits behind was oddly uncharacteristic of Amethyst. She loved her food! Especially the food that was unnaturally greasy and one hundred percent free of cost to get. Glancing up at the pink-red sky and the floating eye, she'd guess that whatever that thing happened to be meant bad news for Beach City.

* * *

Steven flinched when he heard the door to his cell open. One of those Crystal Mean-Faces was back. Again. He buried his head under his pillow, and prepared to block out anything that the gem was going to say. They were constantly trying to get him to talk again, but he wasn't going to do it. He wasn't going to slip up, or be friendly with them. He wasn't even going to tell them to go away.

"Steven." The pearl began.

There was a slight tap on his shoulder, but Steven shook the hand off.

"Steven." The amethyst chimed in. "Come on dude! At least say something! You're turning into a vegtable!"

"Steven, listen to us." The pearl snapped.

"If you do, we'll let you go outside a few times." The amethyst tempted.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." The pearl said.

"I'd keep it!" The amethyst insisted.

"Oh, just how like you promised that you'd be the crocodile for the moat? Or how you promised to stop bothering the humans around here?"

"Vidalia is my friend." She said. "And she's way more fun to hang around than _you."_

"We don't have time for this." The fusion interrupted. "Steven, we need your help."

Oh well that was funny! They needed his help? These gems had been nothing but horrible to him since day one! He had only warped to this planet by accident! He hadn't meant to come to this horrible world, he didn't want to stay here! He just wanted to go home! That was the only thing he wanted! Just because he had the same gem as one of their friends, they thought it gave them a reason to keep him here and ask a bunch of questions. He was just Steven! He wasn't anyone other than that!

"Please, there are a lot of lives at stake!"

"Come on Stee-Man!"

"I don't care!" He rasped.

His voice was rough, and his throat felt scratchy from so little disuse over his period of silence. He could feel the gems all glaring down at him, and he could have sworn that the fusion had growled slightly. A pair of hands grabbed him, and flipped Steven on to his back. Before he could turn around, he was pinned under the point of the pearl's spear for what felt like the hundredth time. She lightly jabbed his gem with the point of her spear, fiercely glaring at him.

"Steven, I'm going to count to three, and if you haven't agreed to help us by-"

"Ok! I'll do it!" He sniffled.

The spear was pulled away from his stomach. Steven closed his good eye, forcing back the tears he knew were coming. Gem warriors didn't cry. They were strong. They could handle anything because they were tough, and brave. Because of this, he missed the respective dirty and calculating looks that the amethyst and fusion sent the pearl's way.

With his leg still in a cast, Steven couldn't get up on his own. The fusion effortlessly picked him up by the arms, leaving him dangling several feet above the ground. He was carried out of the cell, the heavy door swinging shut behind them. For the first time, he got to see what was outside of the grey walls that he was kept in. For a brief moment, his frustration and homesickness left his mind.

They winded through countless colourful rooms, all of them no doubt with their own purposes. He could tell what the function of some of them were, but for the most part, where ever they were looked like something out of a history book. The technology they had scattered around was a mixture of ancient and absolutely archaic. They passed through the room with all of the bubbled gems in it, another that was filled with waterfalls, and finally, they came to an exit.

The route they had taken made Steven's mind practically spin. He supposed that was the point. They didn't want him finding a way out of their base if he ever managed to get out of his cell. Steven knew that it would take him ages to get through all of the rooms. It was a labyrinth of confusion. And as luck would have it, the only warp pad was just outside of their base. And it was a local warp! Even if he could reach it, he would have no idea where he could warp to on the planet.

Steven expected to be blinded by the daylight outside. Instead he was surprised to discover that the Earth's sun bore a striking resemblance to a red eye. No, wait, that _was_ a red eye! And it was heading straight towards them at full speed! Hope rose in Steven's chest as he saw it! Home World was looking for him, and they knew that he was here on the planet! They must have been able to realize where he warped some how, and they were coming to rescue him!

"That's what we need you to fix." The pearl declared, pointing at it.

"But, it's just a red eye!" Steven said. "They're probably just looking for me! Hey, look! I'm over here! It's me! Steven!"

"Stop that." The fusion commanded, setting him on the ground.

"It's not _just_ a red eye!" The pearl snarled at him. "It's going to crash into Beach City, and crush us, along with a bunch of oblivious, innocent, people! We have to stop it!"

Being saved, or crushed horribly under the red eye? His hope was shattered instantly at hearing this. He would have to do something. He didn't want to be flattened!

"But what am I supposed to do?" Steven wondered.

"The only thing powerful enough to destroy it is a light cannon that belonged to Rose Quartz." The fusion explained.

The amethyst gave a sigh of disgust, kicking the sand.

"If Rose were here, this would be _so_ easy!"

The pearl wilted slightly at hearing this.

"I know." She frowned. "But she's not. You have a rose quartz gem though! If anyone can activate the cannon, it's you!"

Steven looked around the beach, but he didn't see anything that looked like the light cannon that they were talking about.

"Well, where's the light cannon?" Steven asked.

The amethyst and fusion looked at their teammate pointedly.

"I know where it is, and we can transport it." The pearl stuck two fingers into her mouth and gave a shrill whistle. "Rosie!"

Lion (Steven refused to think of the lion as Rosie.) Slowly meandered towards the group. He sat down on the sand once reaching them, and gave a lazy yawn. The pearl nudged the lion in the stomach.

"Come on! Get up!"

The lion seemed to give a sigh of protest, but did as he was told and got back up to his feet. Steven was picked up again, this time by the pearl. She set him on Lion's back, and then sat down behind him. The gem gripped on to the lion's mane, and Steven copied the action. His fur was very soft, maybe it tasted good... But he wouldn't dwell on that now.

"Steven and I will go to retrieve the light cannon." Pearl declared.

Garnet nodded.

"Amethyst and I will try to stall it in the meantime."

She picked up Amethyst with one arm, and then positioned her so that she was facing the red eye. Garnet launched Amethyst into the air, and sent her flying towards the red eye. Amethyst hit it with a painful-sounding smack, and fell in to the water below.

"Alright." Pearl nodded. "Hold on tight Steven!"

The lion stared to get a running start, and then gave a roar. A portal opened up, and he leaped through it. Steven gave a scream of surprise, clinging to the lion in fear, even as he sat back down again. Pearl got back up, and stared to head towards Rose's armoury, before remembering that Steven was not able to walk easily at the moment.

Steven hesitantly got up with a little help from Lion, ignoring the hand that the pearl had offered to him. He was afraid that she might try to stab him with her weapon if he wasn't careful. He really didn't understand this pearl. She had been furious at him the last time thay had talked, but now she seemed almost friendly. Steven knew better than to trust someone like that. He'd have to be really careful around her. The pearl simply huffed at the gesture, and strode off farther into the cave. Steven tried to hobble after her as quickly as he could, not wanting to fall behind.

The air inside of the cave was damp and humid. It smelled like something musty, and the sound of dripping water constantly echoed throughout the cave. Looking up at the ceiling, Steven could make out stalactites growing downwards, while forming stalagmites beneath them. They really looked sharp and pointy. He wouldn't want to be stabbed with those... Or the pearl's weapon if he wasn't able to help them destroy the red eye. But, either way, he would still end up dead if he couldn't do anything about the red eye.

It raised an important question though. Why would the Home World send a red eye to look for him if they knew that it could possibly hurt him when crashing into the planet? Wouldn't that not be a good thing? If they were looking to rescue him, then they shouldn't have sent a red eye after him. Unless... They didn't know he was here, and the red eye had been sent for some other purpose.

Of course! How could he be so dumb?! The Crystal Mean-Faces had spelled it out to him already. No one knew that he was here, they had no way of being tracked, which meant that he was stranded. Yellow Diamond would be looking for him, but she wouldn't know where he was! But gem warriors did not cry. He was tough, he would find a way to get out of this situation on his own.

"Are you coming?"

Steven gave a defeated nod, and slowly limped towards the platform where she was standing.

"How much do you know about Rose Quartz?" The pearl questioned.

"Not much." Steven admitted. "No one really likes talking about what happened on this planet. She seemed like an important leader though. How'd you know her?"

The pearl instantly puffed up her chest, practically swelling with pride at the question. Grinning, she answered;

"I was Rose's sole confidant. For the words she could share with no one else, I was there to listen!"

"Why'd she keep so many secrets?"

"She had to Steven. It's the mark of a great leader! Knowing what to keep hidden from everyone you're trying to protect." Her grin seemed to grow even larger at this. "Everyone except me!"

_"Just like Yellow Diamond..."_ He inwardly thought to himself.

When Steven stepped on to the platform, it began to glow a soft pink before fading. He took this as a good sign. As he took another step on to the spot, the pink light followed him, over to where a risen shape with a hand print on it rose up. Steven hesitantly placed his hand on the marking, not sure of what was going to happen to him when he did.

Nothing dangerous happened at least. A soft chime sounded, and the platform turned pink once again.

"Now, normally when she wanted to summon a weapon, Rose-"

Steven scratched his cheek, only to have a rack of weapons pop out of the ground. Instantly, his eyes lit up in delight.

"Whoa! Cool! What are those?"

The pearl had been stunned into silence for a moment, but she shook herself out of it.

"Well, those are the-"

Steven didn't listen, and he tried poking his cheek. The swords vanished and suits of armour took their places. Realizing that he could summon all sorts of amazing gem warrior things, Steven stared to do everything he could to his face to see what would show up in front of him. After a few tries, the pearl interrupted;

"Enough! We need the light cannon!"

"Oh, I think I saw that a few rotations ago!"

Pulling at his hair, a quartet of cannons appeared. They were pink in colour, and had a design of a rose patterned on them for the trigger. One was larger than the rest, and placed slightly off to the side.

"Is that the light cannon?" Steven asked. "It looks really heavy."

"Oh, we'll just have Rosie transport it for us!"

The pearl gave another whistle, and the lion got up from his spot. He seemed to take his time walking over to them, and gave yet another lazy yawn. Steven was caught completely off guard when he roared, opening up a new portal, just in front of the cannon. The gem and lion quickly pushed the cannon through it. Then, they carried Steven through as well.

The group arrived just on time to watch the fusion throw her fellow gem at the red eye once more. She turned to face them, and gave a slight smile as she saw the light cannon. Adjusting her glasses slightly, the fusion said;

"Good job you two. Now all we need is for Steven to activate it."

Steven balked at this, wondering if she was serious.

"You mean, you don't know how to? How am I supposed to figure it out?!"

"You have a rose quartz gem." The fusion repeated. "I'm sure you'll find a way."

Steven bit his lip, looking up at the sky. The red eye had gotten even closer in the time that they had been gone. It took up a good portion of the sky, and the glow coming off of it was turning everything a dull red. Beneath their feet, the sand was beginning to stir, as a wind stared to blow, pushing the tiny particles around. It looked like he didn't have a lot of time to figure this out. But how was he supposed to know what to do?!

The amethyst beached herself, quite literally as she had transformed into a whale. The gem shape-shifted back to her usual form and spat out a mouthful of water, sand, and a rather unfortunate fish. When she saw the group there with the laser light cannon, she instantly sprinted over to them and gave a happy dance.

"Yay! We got it!"

"None of us know how to activate it." The fusion shortly said.

This put an end to her celebration.

Steven ran a hand across the smooth surface of the laser light cannon, looking for some kind of button or hidden switch that would activate it. The winds grew stronger, and he felt his feet begin to rise off of the ground. Steven then clung on to the cannon in a desperate hug. Eyes stinging with sand and tears, he started to pound a fist against the cannon.

"Please work, unlock, activate, go, _please!_ Everyone's counting on you, you can't just be useless! I know you can help!"

"It's no use." The pearl sighed.

Jumping into her teammate's arms, the amethyst insisted;

"Throw me again!"

The fusion turned to the red eye, and was starting to aim towards it once again. Steven gave a defeated sob, pressing his face against the cannon.

"I'm going to miss Home World!" He sniffled. "I just wanna' go home!"

Just then, the cannon began to light up. The end of it unfolded, forming a flower-like formation that began to glow a dark pink. The cannon fell to the ground, Steven going with it. He yelped as he hit the ground, falling on his injured leg. The splitting pain took over his mind once more.

But, they were going to die if he didn't act now! Steven gritted his teeth and ignored the agonizing pain in his leg. He needed to push up the cannon, so they could aim it at the red eye. Steven crawled back to the cannon, and balanced himself with his one good leg. Reaching underneath, be tried to push the barrel up and facing the massive eye. It was too heavy for him to lift though...

The burden of the cannon became lighter. Steven looked behind him to see that the other gems were holding it up as well. Together, they faced it towards the red eye as it closed in on them.

"Brace yourselves!"

The light from the cannon grew to a burning intensity. It fired a single blast of magnificent pink-white light at the red eye. The light seemed to take the shape of a rose, vines twinning around the flower, before shifting into a giant woman, her dress and hair fluttering behind her. Steven felt as if his gem seemed to glow and turn warm as he saw the pink woman soaring through the sky. She seemed so... Familiar... The woman gracefully rose a hand just on time to make impact with the red eye. The pink beams of light that surrounded her struck afterwards, each hitting the red eye with a jarring amount of force.

Everything seemed to freeze as the blast struck. The red eye looked as if it had absorbed the brilliant light. But it suddenly cracked and fell apart, exploding everywhere over the beach. Shrapnel larger than all of them combined rained down upon the group, landing everywhere and making craters in the ground. Over where the town was, parts of the board walk were destroyed, a car falling into it, while one man's restaurant sign was knocked over by the sheer force of the blast.

The group was silent for a moment, speechless after watching the cannon destroy the red eye. Then, the amethyst gave an excited squeal.

"Steven! You just saved most of Beach City!"

Looking over at the parts of the destroyed town, Steven yelled at it;

"Sorry about that!"

One man, who had been outside at the time of the attack yelled back;

"What?!"

Steven was helped back up to his feet by the amethyst, who was still grinning at him.

"How did you get it to work?"

"I just said that I'm going to miss-"

The fusion covered his mouth before he could finish the rest.

"It's probably for the best if you don't say that near the cannon."

Steven nodded in agreement with her. The fusion then turned over to her fellow gem. She remained staring at the cleared sky, tears glittering in her eyes.

"You ok Pearl?"

The pearl's voice was surprisingly soft in response.

"Rose."

She sniffled slightly, and then wiped her eyes. The pearl got back up to her feet, trying to regain some of her lost composure.

"Great job gems!" She hiccupped. "R-Rosie and I will just go put the cannon somewhere more accessible, just in case one comes back."

Steven was picked up by the fusion once more.

"Come on, let's get you back inside."

"Do I have to?" He sighed.

Neither of them said anything. The amethyst gave him a sad sort of look and then shrugged. Steven didn't protest being carried back to his cell. There was nothing he could do to fight them off anyways. Once he had been locked in again, he changed out of his sandy clothes and shook as much sand out of his hair as he could.

The boy looked around his barren, grey cell and gave a tired sigh. He wondered when the next time he would get to leave would be. Were they just going to let him out when they needed to use him as a tool? Something that they could use to help solve problems they couldn't fix themselves? Steven didn't really want to know. He didn't want to think about home, or where he was right now. He was tired of crying, tired of feeling homesick and trying to fight against his jailers.

He curled up in bed, wrapping all of the blankets around him. The boy thought about the only thing he could: The giant, pink woman who had emerged from the beam of light. Steven didn't know if she had been real, or merely a figment of his imagination. But what he did know was that there was something comforting about the thought of her.

The boy dozed off, dreaming of a soft, feminine voice talking to him, and the smell of roses.


	6. The Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating a day early because I'm going to be heading up to cottage country on Friday, and won't be back until Sunday evening. I won't have access to internet for very long during that time, thus no chance to update the story. 
> 
> Internet cookies go to the person who catches the "My Neighbor Totoro" reference.

The gems were planning to meet their designated meeting room. They had designed it together after the constant disputes meeting locations fueled. Garnet was not awfully comfortable with the water in Pearl's room, as her respective halves were used to either freezing or evaporating it away. She didn't like Amethyst's room because it was too neutral. It wasn't just flaming hot or freezing cold, it was room temperature. Garnet had no problem with room temperature, however, she wasn't too fond of spending long amount of time idly sitting there. Especially when she had to be the voice of reason at the same time.

Pearl refused to stay in Amethyst's room unless they were cleaning up, and Amethyst always fell down the waterfalls when they held their team meeting in Pearl's room. Both Amethyst and Pearl were uncomfortable with the so-called "death traps" in both Ruby and Sapphire's rooms.

Thus, the meeting room was formed by altering the properties of a lesser-used room in the temple. Each gem had their own seat, and part of the room was divided towards their preferred element. Ruby and Sapphire shared, so the room was split into a triangular shape, with Garnet's side having even two smaller divides. Even then, the room was not used often, because they never had a real reason to form a meeting and talk about what was needed.

However, since Steven had arrived on Earth, the meeting room had been through a record-breaking streak, because it was in almost constant use. They had stopped the majority of their missions, unless anything posed an immediate threat to them. Instead the group was focusing, or rather, arguing over what they were supposed to do with Steven.

Garnet was the last to arrive at their scheduled meeting. As she climbed up the winding stairs leading to the room, screaming and crying reverberated off the walls. Garnet could no longer tell whether she was imagining the sound or if she could really hear Steven from where she was in the temple.

Pearl refused to go anywhere near Steven after the first time she had tried talking to him on her own. She had made an exception when looking for the light cannon. Life threatening emergencies could do that to a gem. Amethyst wasn't willing to check on Steven again as well. This left her to of course, be the bigger gem and check up on the boy.

Every time she entered the room, he begged her to let him go. He cried, he yelled at her, bit her hand, and tried throwing tiny punches at her until he had exhausted himself. At this rate, the bones in his leg were never going to heal. He was weak of course, and the boy quickly tired himself out trying to fight back. Garnet attempted to simply check up on Steven and leave his meals when he was sleeping. But Steven often cried in his sleep as well.

She could always hear his voice, no matter where she went. She could hear Rose's voice hidden somewhere in the way that Steven spoke. She could hear Ruby and Sapphire all the time, they were always there as well. Her head was a mess of different voices and she couldn't concentrate. She couldn't think without hearing someone else talking inside of her mind.

When she heard Steven, she thought back to the broken warp trying to drive her apart, the modern-day Home World, and all of the advanced technology they would most certainly have. Rose brought flashbacks of the war. Fellow gems begging to be put out of their misery. Home World gems splitting others, friends, and breaking them apart piece by piece until they were only shards. Ruby and Sapphire were bickering, she could hear them back and forth, all the time. It was not like before, when she was simply herself and two at the same time. Now Garnet felt like two. She felt like Ruby and Sapphire, not Garnet.

But worst of all was the future. Whenever Garnet tried to loose herself in what was going to happen, she went too far upstream. And all she saw was a repeat of the past when she did. The war all over again. Everything repeating itself. Loosing everyone, all of them and causing pain. So much of it.

"Garnet! There you are! We were just beginning to wonder where you were!"

_"Her... Voice... Is... So... Annoying..."_

_"She had a lovely singing voice."_

_"She squawks like a bird!_

_"Ruby, pay attention to what they're saying."_

_"You're not paying attention either! Why should I have to?"_

_"You speak, I listen."_

"We need to talk about Steven."

Amethyst and Pearl gave her strange looks.

"That's just what we were doing."

_"See? I told you we needed to listen."_

Garnet shook her head, ignoring the two of them. She was in control now, she was not Ruby or Sapphire. She was Garnet!

"Keeping Steven locked up isn't good for him." Garnet said.

"But he's a Home World Gem!" Pearl protested.

"He's also a human boy, who doesn't know anything about the planet he comes from."

"So you're just suggesting we let him roam free?" Pearl asked, growing more angry. "Garnet, he's a-"

"Rose Quartz didn't love the Earth at first." The gem interrupted. "It grew on her before she intervened on it's behalf."

"But Rose doesn't have anything to do with Steven!"

"You didn't agree on that yesterday."

_"Ha! Tell it like it is Sapphy!"_

"Yesterday he successfully got into Rose's armoury!"

"But only because they have the same gem." Garnet reminded. "We have part of Rose here, and we agreed that Steven was most likely a Home World experiment. You can't force two completely different gems together. They have two different personalities, and they'd..."

Pearl dropped the argument for the time being, a frown creasing her features.

"Come to think of it, how did the Home World get their hands on human reproductive material?"

Amethyst, who had been silent up until this point, now spoke.

"Maybe they just stole some during the war."

"No, that wouldn't make any sense." Said Pearl, shaking her head. "Humans were considered inferior genetic scum. They wouldn't have considered trying to mix the two. Especially during the war. Anything remotely Earth-like would be despised on Home World. Besides, no preservation tactics at the time would allow for human DNA to survive that long."

Giving a huff, Amethyst pushed the hair out of her eyes.

"Whatever. It was just a suggestion."

Pearl seemed to ignore this, and she turned back to Garnet. Not surprising in the slightest. They always treated her like she was the baby of their group, even though she was practically five thousand years old! The two started to argue about what they should do with Steven. Amethyst tuned it out, not wanting to listen to the two of them duke it out yet again.

She was on Garnet's side, however Pearl refused to let Steven out. Instead of accepting it as the team leader's word like she did in the past, she kept arguing her point of Steven being dangerous. Both of them knew that the reason why Pearl was so against letting him out had to do with whatever conversation had gone on between her and Steven. Pearl refused to tell them any of the real details of course, but she had left the cell in tears afterwards, and had not emerged from her room for three days.

Both her teammates were a mess, and Amethyst was beginning to feel caught in the middle of all of it. How she was surviving without going insane was anyone's guess. And to think she had been so desperate for company that she was happy when _Pearl_ regenerated! Vidalia was always busy with her creepy kid and "adult responsibilities" now a days, and she had successfully gotten the only breath of fresh air in this place to hate her.

It wasn't like she had meant to hurt the little guy's feelings. When Pearl was in one of her angry moods, it just came as an instinct to do whatever was needed to get Pearl off of her back. She became completely insufferable otherwise, and she was definitely not in the mood to sit through a long tirade of her nagging and complaining.

Between the lecturing of Pearl and the dead silence of Garnet, Amethyst could not decide with one was worse to sit through. Pearl always lectured, and when Garnet talked, it was either to argue back at Pearl, or to talk about Steven. She was just plain sick of it all!

Amethyst knew that the both of them would be too busy with their arguing to realize that she was gone. Not that they would notice even if she did happen to leave. So the gem decided to slip out of the room while they both had their backs facing her. It was time for her to get some alone time. After all she had put up with, Amethyst figured that she deserved it.

Exiting the temple, Amethyst stepped into the early morning sun. She squinted her eyes slightly, looking around the beach for anything of interest. Finding nothing, she figured that she would head into town to see what was going on down there. Unfortunately, she couldn't call on Vidalia until the afternoon. Apparently humans had this thing called a "school day," meaning that she would be busy trying to get both of her kids out to school. The older one in particular was always complaining that he didn't want to go.

With no money on her, food was out of the question as well. What else could she possibly do? Shape-shift and scare a few people? Destroy a few boulders? Scaring people seemed appealing enough. Shape-shifting into an owl, Amethyst glided across the sand. She stopped at the board walk for a bit and decided to change her form.

First she turned into a seagull, and had a little fun fighting the others for dropped food on the board walk. Flying and dive bombing at rapid speed was always enjoyable. It made her feel free, and no one could tell her to be quiet. She could squawk as loudly as she wanted. Once she was tired of eating, Amethyst switched to being a cat. She chased the enemy seagulls that she had made down the board walk, swiping at them with her claws. That grew boring as well though, so Amethyst decided to move onto more interesting targets.

Keeping her feline body, she ran down the street, in search of a human that she could bother. Amethyst came across two of them. One was using a hose to wash a car, and had a pink sunburn over most of his body. The other was wearing a strange hat, and had even stranger blond hair. Amethyst ran up to the two of them and jumped onto the blond one's front.

He screamed, trying to pull her off of his chest.

"Help! Killer soot gremlin! It's trying to eat my soul!"

The sun-burned man tried to spray the both of them with the hose. Amethyst internally cackled as the both of them continued to freak out.

"Hang on Ronaldo!"

"It's immune to water! Kill it! Kill it with fire!"

"But it's a soot gremlin! Their origins come from fire!"

"Try anyways!"

The man pulled a lighter out of his pocket, and attempted to start it up. Only a few pathetic sparks appeared before it petered out.

"There's no lighter fluid left!"

The blond man collapsed on the ground, huffing and puffing. Amethyst still remained on the man, her claws digging into his shirt. The man looked away from her face, and dramatically closed his eyes. Giving a few heaving breaths, he whispered;

"Make sure... To take a picture... To put on..." A fake coughing fit washed over him. "My... Blog..."

Everything went silent for a moment. Then, the sun-burned man picked up Amethyst.

"Wait, Ronaldo, it's just a weird, purple cat that likes water."

The blond man sat up at once, staring at Amethyst. He whipped out his cellphone and was about to take a picture of Amethyst. The gem recalled that Pearl demanded they make as little as fuss with the humans as possible, meaning that they shouldn't draw attention to themselves. Apparently not all humans could handle their super cool powers. This was one of the few rules of Pearl's that she decided to follow.

While scaring them had been fun, it was for the best if they didn't realize that she was the purple animal in town that scared people and stole food. Otherwise all her freebies would end, and people would no longer be scared of her. Loosing an opportunity at fun and food was not something she could stand to live with right now. Amethyst jumped out of the man's arms and ran off to hide in a bush. The blond man only followed a few feet before stopping.

"No! I lost my proof!" He cried.

The sun-burned man patted him on the back.

"Aw, cheer up Ronaldo! I'll always believe you!"

"But no one will believe you." He whined. "Everyone thinks your stories are just a joke!"

"I really was kidnapped by aliens!" He insisted. "They had weird names I couldn't pronounce!"

"But I really wanted a good quality picture of that cat."

"So what if they're all a little blurry? If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs."

The blond man weakly smiled at this.

"That is _so_ wise."

A smaller figure ran up to the duo. He had blond hair like the weird man who had tried to take a picture of her.

"Ronaldo! Dad said that you couldn't hang around Mister Universe anymore!"

"Oh relax Peedee! We were just talking."

The boy rolled his eyes.

"Let me guess, was it about the _aliens?"_

"No actually, there was this really weird purple cat that attacked me and-"

"Let's get you out of here before you catch his crazy." The smaller blond said, pulling on his arm. "Uh, no offense Mister Universe."

"None taken." He dismissed. "Claiming you've been kidnapped by aliens typically estranges a guy from the entire town."

The two blonds walked off, and the man resumed washing the car.

"GOTTCHA'!"

Amethyst jumped when Vidalia picked her up from behind. She transformed back into herself, still sitting in her friend's arms.

"Whoa, why are you here?"

"My car broke down." She shrugged. "I went in to get it fixed and decided to ask for a wash while I was at it."

Vidalia sat her back down on the ground once more.

"So, what are you doing here? Temple got boring?"

"You don't know half of it." Amethyst sighed.

"Well, I'll give you a lift back to my place, we can talk about it."

Amethyst followed Vidalia back over to where the sun-burned man was just finishing off the car.

"Hey Greg." She greeted.

The man, Greg, dropped the hose to the ground in surprise. It flopped around as if it were alive, spraying water everywhere, and soaking the man from head-to-toe in the process. With fumbling fingers, he quickly scrambled to pick up the hose. He grabbed it just before either of them could get sprayed by it as well.

"Oh! Hey! Vidalia!" He greeted, blushing slightly. "You're a bit early!"

"I just got the boys to school, so I thought I'd swing by."

The man rubbed the back of his neck slightly, his blush turning even darker. Amethyst wondered how that was possible when his face was already rather pink. But the man somehow seemed to do it. Staring at him, she instantly decided that she liked his hair. He was completely bald on top, yet it still somehow grew down to his waist as well. Staring at him, she couldn't help but feel something about him rung a bell.

"So... How are they? The kids that is?"

Amethyst groaned as a five-minute long conversation of awkward small-talk ensued. Adult humans could be so boring some of the time! Who cared about the weather and the price of gas? And why were they talking so weirdly while they were at it?! Vidalia kept her cool of course, she was awesome like that. Greg, on the other hand continued to blush a deeper pink and stumble over his words. What was that about anyways?

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of standing there and waiting, they were able to part from the car wash. Amethyst had always liked Vidalia's car because it had something called a sunroof on the top. It was always fun to stick her head out of there as they were driving around Beach City. One time she had even caught a fly in her mouth. She had asked Vidalia to try a few times, but she didn't "trust" her to drive her car in a "safe" manner that "won't cost me a hundred grand in repair fees afterwards."

So she had crashed her car before! Three times. During the same day. And run over the mayor's cat. That didn't mean that she was a bad driver! She just needed a little more time behind the wheel. Vidalia of course said no to this. Sometimes being an adult seemed to really suck. Amethyst was glad that she didn't have to be one.

They arrived back at Vidalia's place, parking her car on the drive way. They got out of the car. Vidalia pushed the tarp in front of the garage by with a dramatic sweep, admitting Amethyst into the garage. There was the usual acrid smell of solvent mixed with the stringent, chemical smell of the different paints that were used within the area. Canvases were spread everywhere, as per usual, drying off and on display in the heat of the day.

Vidalia pushed a stack of rough sketches and old, frayed paint brushes off of a stool. She gestured towards it, and Amethyst sat down. The woman then pulled out an office chair for herself. The spongy-yellow cushion beneath the fabric was showing in places, and splotches of paint stained it a disastrous rainbow of colours.

"Hey, how come you get the comfy chair?"

Getting back up to her feet, Vidalia pointed to the Vidalia-shaped groove that had been worn into the seat and back of the chair with both fingers.

"Because I earned it!"

The two friends were both distracted from their conversation for a moment. Vidalia slid around on her chair, spinning as she did so. The woman grabbed a set of various pens and a small sketchbook. She opened the drawer to a desk and pulled out a small, glass, jar filled with a clear liquid, and then rummaged around for several different shaped brushes.

The woman then began to draw the sketchy outline of something. It was a practice that Amethyst often saw her doing for a "cheer-me-up" drawing. She'd make something quick and funny to help get rid of stress or make herself smile. It was Amethyst's equivalent of a doodle. Except Vidalia's actually looked good.

"Could you turn into that cat from before?"

"Sure thing your highness."

Amethyst instantly shape-shifted back into the cat from before. Vidalia stared at her for a moment, and then turned back to her pad of paper.

"You never explained why you were terrorizing Greg back there. He do anything?"

"Nah, he was just the closest target."

Something clicked in Amethyst's mind as she said this. Greg... Mr. Universe... Greg... Universe... That name... Why was that name so familiar? She could feel the name itching her brain, the reason just on the tip of her tongue. She didn't know that many humans beyond Vidalia's, her son, and whatever Onion and her husband were. So why would the man's name, and hair seem to ring a bell?

All of a sudden, it hit her. Amethyst gave a sharp gasp of surprise.

"Wait, that guy at the car wash was Greg? _Our_ Greg Universe?"

Vidalia smiled over her paper.

"Yup, the one and the same."

"I thought he moved away to like, Keystone state."

"He did for a little while." Vidalia explained. "But he came back without the top of his hair and a story about being kidnapped by aliens."

"Ugh, it's a good thing you dumped him." Amethyst said. "It seems like you might've caught his crazy otherwise."

"Hey, it was a mutual break-up." The woman defended, viciously jabbing the pen into the paper.

"Tell that to the tub of ice cream you ate afterwards."

"I was preggers with Sour Cream at the time." Vidalia defended. "I was always hungry."

Tilting her head slightly, Amethyst paused to reminisce about Greg. She had a few memories of him hanging out with Vidalia. When it turned out she had gotten pregnant with some jerk's kid, he had been there as a good friend. He was there to lend his support, and it turned to dating after a while. Amethyst didn't really know why the guy had moved on though.

"Why did you two split anyways?"

Her friend gave a bit of a sigh.

"I needed a stable income, and we all know what the music industry's like. We just weren't on the same level of thought."

"Kinda' jerky of him to leave you behind though."

"Hey, he stayed in Beach City until Sour Cream was two-and-a-half."

They faded back to quiet again, and once more, Vidalia tried bringing back the conversation.

"You know what we need to try?"

"What?"

"Skinny dipping in the town's duck pond."

Amethyst gave the feline equivalent of a grin.

"Five bucks says that you'll get caught."

"You don't even have five _cents."_

"But is it a bet?"

"Only if you pay _double_ when _you're_ the one who gets caught instead of me."

"Two times zero is zero." Amethyst grinned. "So when do we go?"

"We'll do it as soon as I can get Sour Cream to babysit Onion again."

Again they were silent. Amethyst thought it was because Vidalia was concentrating on her work, however, that theory was proven wrong.

"Why are you so quiet?" Her friend wondered. "Normally you're yakking my ear off when something bothers you."

"Me? I'm not the quiet one!"

"Does this have to do with the kid in the temple?"

Amethyst crossed, or at least tried to, crossed her paws and looked away from Vidalia.

"What? No. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Amethyst."

"Really, I have no idea at all."

"Amethyst."

"None." The gem insisted.

"Amethyst."

"Nada' thing Vi."

_"Ameeethyyyst."_

"It's a long story ok?!" Amethyst huffed.

Vidalia looked down at her watch.

"Well, the boys don't get out until three."

Vidalia already didn't know that much about what gems were, so it was a bit difficult to explain the whole situation to her. She was able to cover the basics at least, explaining their potential enemy in Steven, and how none of them knew what they were supposed to do with him. She explained how Garnet had gotten worse, and ever since she had regenerated after being impaled by the fence, Pearl was being even weirder and more prone to lecture her on something.

Then she went into more detail on what was going on with Steven, and how she wanted to just let the kid be a kid so that he could be happy, but at the same time, they couldn't risk letting him run free on his own. Breaking her promise was another biggie as well. Amethyst didn't actually explain what the thing she had promised not to say was, she had learned her lesson the first time.

However, she still felt really guilty that Steven was mad at her for revealing what she had, even though she had promised not to. Steven had specifically repeated again and again for her not to say anything, but she had. The kid was a mess now, and it was driving all of them away from each other. Amethyst couldn't stand a second longer of having to put up with it all.

Vidalia was quiet the whole time, listening to everything that she said. It felt so good to finally talk to someone who actually listened and didn't brush off what she had to say. She was a member of the team, but they were never taking what she had to say seriously. Once she had finished what she had to say, Vidalia offered her advice.

"You know what I think you should do?"

"What?"

"Try explaining to the little guy why you did what you did and then apologize."

"What if he doesn't listen?"

"It'll sink in after a while, he'll think about what you said."

"You think that'll work?" The gem wondered.

"The kid'll have to come around eventually. And until then, I'll be here for ya'."

Amethyst shape-shifted back into her usual body, and the two shared a hug. Vidalia then ripped the piece of paper she had been working on our of the sketchbook and handed it to her. Amethyst grinned at it. It was a picture of her attacking Greg and the other guy at the car wash earlier that day.

"Feeling better now?" She asked.

The gem nodded, handing the picture back to her, but the woman refused.

"You keep it, I've got enough stuff as it is."

Nodding once more, the gem carefully rolled up the paper and stuck it in her shirt.

"Thanks again Vi."

* * *

Steven was woken up by someone clearing their throat. Groaning, he blearily rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. He could make out a purple blur. That was all he needed to see to close them again and stick his head underneath the pillow. He waited for someone to drag him out of bed once more, but no one did.

"I... I know you're mad at me." The amethyst began. "And, I just wanted to explain myself. It's not an excuse. I just thought you might wanna' know why I broke my promise. Then maybe we could..."

She trailed off, waiting for him to react in some way. Steven didn't do anything. He was surprised again when no one invaded his personal space or rose their voice. A- _the_ amethyst was just leaving him alone.

"Ever since the warp that brought you here started to malfunction, things have been like, totally nuts. Garnet stays shut up all the time, and Pearl, don't even get me started on her. I was just like, sick of it, you know? I'm tired of arguing with her. So I just do what she wants and get it over with. I don't want to fight with them. I don't want to fight with you either. So... Yeah... That's... Just what I wanted to say."

Steven didn't say anything, but he was processing what she had just said. He knew what it was like to not be able to argue back without getting in some sort of trouble. He got that, but he still felt bad for trusting her so quickly. He should have doubted her word, but she had been nice and be felt like he could trust her. It made him feel terrible.

"I got this for you." She continued. "I stole it from Pearl. I remember she said that it lets you like, see important parts of Home World if you want... I thought it could make you feel a little less..."

"AMETHYST! WERE YOU IN MY ROOM?"

The gem cursed under her breath.

"Of course. I'll leave it on the pillow next to you. Make sure to keep it hidden."

He heard the door open and close shut, and the amethyst muttering to herself as she ran off to find the other gems. Steven, now curious about what she could have gotten him, rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes again.

Laying on the pillow next to him was an ornate mirror.


	7. Defective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've returned from my trip! And I finally got a chance to refresh my French! A real relief seeing as if you learn French in Canada, you learn the stiff, super formal kind. (This is because people who learn French usually have plans to get a job involving bilingualism.) If you talk like an essay to people, you'll get some strange looks. It's a relief to know that I can avoid sounding like that for the most part still.

_Laying on the pillow next to him was an ornate mirror._

Steven curiously flipped it over, and saw that there was some kind of blue, tear-drop shaped stone in the back. Probably just for decoration, as it happened to have a sizeable crack through the middle of it. Turning it back to the mirror side, Steven was startled to realize that his reflection was now gone. The mirror seemed to have fogged up, and looked as if someone had traced letters across the glass, leaving a single, simple message.

_Hello Steven._

Yelping in surprise, he dropped the mirror on the bed.

"Y-you can hear me?"

Grabbing the mirror again, he held it up. No reflection was showing on the surface, even though it looked lile a mirror. After a moment, an image showed up. It was Amethyst. The mirror showed a recording of Amethyst talking to him from earlier.

"Yeah."

Steven tilted his head in confusion. Why would the mirror repeat things to him instead of writing more, or actually talk?

"Can you only speak through recordings?"

The mirror replayed the short scene once more.

"Yeah."

He was right then.

"Oh. I guess I should give you a list of things to say then."

"Yeah."

Steven started off with numbers. He went from zero to nine. Then he went over a few different characters from the Home World equivalent of an alphabet. He had learned bits and pieces of English through the instant translation abilities that all gems had. However, he could only read and understand what something said, but not write it himself. He was able to speak in the same language as the Crystal Gems as well.

After that, he did a few more simple words. Yes, no, who, what, where, and so on. He added in a few verbs for good measure, even though, as a mirror, it wouldn't really be doing any running or jumping. Once they had a sufficient amount of words for the mirror to use, Steven tried speaking to it again.

"So, could you maybe show me some of Home World?"

"No."

_"Can_ you show me some of the Home World?"

"No."

"You don't do what Amethyst said before?"

"Yes."

Steven let out a long sigh at hearing this. He supposed it was the thought that had counted behind the gift. But he wanted to see home, even if it was an older version of what the Home World had been like! Anything and everything was better than being forced to stay in his cell and do nothing. It was mind-numbing, and it only made him miss home even more.

"I'll never get to see home again."

The mirror rewound and played two of the phrases in succession.

"Why. Not?"

"I warped here by accident and now the Crystal Gems are holding me prisoner."

"Me too. Prisoner."

Once more, Steven was caught off guard by the mirror.

"Wait, what?"

"Crystal Gems. I'll never get to see home again!"

A sudden revelation dawned upon the boy. The blue stone in the back of the mirror... Was it, another gem? Steven turned the mirror towards it's back. Looking at the cracked gemstone inside, he realized that there was definitely an actual, live gem inside of it. So that was what powered the mirror to do this...

"You're a gem!" He exclaimed. "And you're cracked..."

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

The mirror fogged up once more, and Steven watched as an invisible finger traced never letters across the glass.

_Lapis Lazuli_

Steven had never heard of a gem like that before. He had learned about many important gems that had fought in the wars of the past, that played crucial parts in keeping their planet alive. But he had never heard of a lapis lazuli ever. Did that mean she had been a higher up gem? But then, why was she never mentioned at all?

Something about that didn't quite add up. He had already learnt his still painful lesson about blindly trusting others from Amethyst. Maybe it wasn't so smart to tell her anything about who he really was. Being half-and-half was supposed to be a secret to begin with, and it was better if not everyone on the entire planet knew this.

That didn't mean they couldn't be friendly with each other though.

"Can I call you Lapis for short?"

"Yes."

"Hello, Lapis, I'm Steven."

"Hello. Steven."

So he really wasn't the only other gem in the temple? Steven now knew that the bubbled gems were all ones that had been corrupted into monsters. He had figured that out when he first tried to escape. But what he didn't know what that there were more gems out there, beyond the Crystal Jerks. He had thought that there were only three of them, because he hadn't seen any more than that. It wasn't like they told him anything important about the planet or themselves anyways, so it was hard to figure stuff like this out.

"How long have you been in there for?"

"Five. Zero. Zero. Zero."

"Oh my gosh! I need to find a way to get you out of there!"

"No."

"No? What do you mean no?"

"Crystal Gems. Can't know. Cracked. My. Gem. More."

"They'll smash you." He frowned. "And neither of us can get out of here."

"We. Wait."

Steven nodded in agreement.

"Until we can find the right time to do so." He elaborated. "Can you show me how to get you out of there, just in case?"

"Yes."

The surface of the mirror became more opaque, the reflective surface fading. A picture of the back of the mirror appeared. Then a hand showed up, prying the gem from the back of the mirror. The gem levitated and then it flashed. The mirror went back to being a reflective surface once more.

"So I need to pull your gem out of the mirror?" He confirmed.

"Yes. Be. Careful. Steven."

"I will be." He promised. "I'll get us out of here Lapis, I'll find a way."

* * *

Amethyst gave a frustrated growl. She had had enough of Pearl's constant nagging and Garnet's silence! Vidalia had at least helped with Steven a little, but hearing the two of them argue about Steven all the time was going to make her sick! Then talking about Home World was making her sick too! Homesick! She was tired of the two of them not listening and paying attention to her.

It wasn't difficult for her to sneak out of yet another team meeting. It didn't take long before Pearl and Garnet were at it again, arguing about the same thing. Fighting wasn't getting them anywhere! It never had, and it never would. Even if she did try to stop them, they acted like she wasn't there! They could at least try switching the topic every now and then, but _no!_ It was just the same old same old all over again and she was finished listening to the two of them!

Climbing down the winding stairs, she made a short trip to her room to get something. Then she ran in the direction of Steven's room. She knew exactly what they were going to do. The gem flung open the cell door, and ran over to the kid. Amethyst shook his shoulder until he had woken up. He looked around in confusion, wondering what was going on.

"A-Amethyst?"

"We're going on a road trip!" She declared. "A road trip that Pearl and Amethyst have no idea about so we're leaving now."

Steven sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"But I can't walk."

"I already though that out." Amethyst grinned. "Tada!"

From outside the door, she pulled in a wheel chair. Amethyst had found it when reorganizing her stuff with wheels pile, and knew that it was going to come in handy sooner or later. As it turned out, the wheel chair was going to come in handy sooner! It was a good thing that she held on to all of her stuff and never dared throw anything away.

"Where'd you get that from?" Steven wondered.

"What can I say?" She shrugged. "Being a pack rat has it's perks. No let's go before they find us!"

Amethyst helped Steven into the wheel chair. Then the two of them ran (Rolled in Steven's case.) Off down the hall, slamming the door behind them. Amethyst had no trouble carrying Steven up and down any stairs that they came across. She would pick him up, wheel chair and all so that they could continue to run. Eventually, they reached the outside of the temple.

It looked like the middle of the day outside, and the sun beat down on the ground. Off in the distance, the water from the ocean glimmered brightly. All was quiet, asides from the faint squawking of seagulls and the sound of the waves. Amethyst pushed them down the beach. It was a bumpy ride and the wheel chair got stuck in the sand a few times. One they reached the board walk, everything was smooth sailing from there.

First things first, they needed to get something that they could eat before they went anywhere. Still running with Steven, she pushed him towards the doughnut place. When she opened the door, they were immediately met with cool air conditioning and the sweet smell of doughnuts baking. Steven gave a curious sniff of the air, and he grinned.

"What's that amazing smell?"

"Only the best food in the world." Amethyst explained.

Having heard them enter the store, the two workers showed up from the back.

"Oh hey Amethyst." The girl greeted. "Who's your little friend?"

"Him? This is Steven my uh, cousin."

Catching onto the lie, Steven nodded.

"Yup! I come from... Notbeachcity City!"

"I thought you guys were only supposed to be hot girls." The boy said.

His coworkers punched him in the shoulder.

"Lars!"

"Well if I was a hot girl, I wouldn't be talking to you!" The boy retorted, folding his arms.

Both Amethyst and the girl laughed at that. She leaned over the counter to give him a high five, as did Amethyst.

"Nice one Steven!" She grinned.

"You just got scalded!" Amethyst hooted.

The boy blushed and stalked off to the back of the store.

"Don't mind Lars." The blonde said. "What can I get for you today?"

From the cavity underneath the wheel chair, Amethyst pulled out a wad of cash. It had taken her forever to figure out where Pearl kept all of the human money, but once she did, nothing could stop Amethyst from buying what she wanted. They'd be an unstoppable force of doughnuts! Slamming it on the counter, she asked;

"How many doughnuts will this buy us?"

* * *

"Hey Amethyst?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a hot girl?"

"It's probably best if I'm not the one who explains that to you."

The duo exited the Big Doughnut, fifty dollars lighter and seventy-five varied doughnut flavours heavier. They had also gotten a few bottles of water thrown in for free, seeing as they had just made a new record for doughnut purchases. Amethyst put the first box of doughnuts in the wheel chair container. The other box, Steven kept on his lap. The two of them left Beach City, and got some distance between themselves before they opened the first box of doughnuts.

Resting in the shade of a tree, she slowly opened up the box.

"Feast your eyes upon the greatest accomplishment of mankind."

Steven's eyes lit up as he saw the doughnuts.

"Can I have the pink one?"

Amethyst handed it to him, and watched as the boy took a bite.

"Wow!" He said between bites. "I really underestimated mankind's intelligence!"

Stuffing a powdered doughnut into her mouth, Amethyst nodded in agreement.

"I know right?"

"How many different flavours are there?"

"Ten. Maybe twenty."

The boy's voice lowered to a hushed whisper.

"I must try them all."

A system of doughnut-eating was devised as they left on their journey once more. Steven went through each flavour by taking a few bites of every one. He then handed off to Amethyst, who seemed almost like a bottomless pit with out much food she could eat. It worked perfectly. Apart from the fact that Steven felt like his tongue was going to fall out from how sugary sweet it tasted. Luckily, he has the water to help counteract that.

They traipsed across the countryside for a better part of the afternoon. Steven didn't really know where they were going or why, but any place was better than being locked up. He figured that if the pearl and fusion didn't know where they were, this was them sneaking out to do something interesting, not an escape. A part of Steven wondered if he should be trusting Amethyst so quickly again, but the other part of him wanted another caramel-salted doughnut.

He was free, and he was finally seeing the planet. A lot of the landscaping seemed odd and foreign to him. There were different types of trees here! And even though many were the same kind, no two looked exactly the same. How could that possibly be? The sky was an interesting colour too. It was a light blue, and the clouds here were supposedly filled with water. The more grey they got, the more water that was in them.

This world was filled with so many possibilities... Each living thing had their own entirely unique experience. The sights the saw, the sounds they heard. So complex, yet simple at the same time... It was nothing like what he was used to, where all gems were designed with a specific purpose in mind and then did so for the rest of their existence. Steven shook his head. None of that mattered though. Home World was the best world, and it was the only place that would ever really matter to him.

After a few hours of traveling, they came to some railroad tracks. He only knew that because Amethyst had explained what they were to him. She had also said that once one of these train things passed by, they were going to hop on to get a free ride where they needed to go. It didn't take long for the first train to show up. It whipped past them, stirring up a wind as it went.

Luckily, that one was going in the wrong direction, and not the train that Amethyst was waiting for. Apparently the trains came in different types as well. Steven was able to recover from his shock, and had mentally prepared himself for the next train that would pass through. The tracks seemed to be rather busy that day. Not far in the distance, a light appeared, and the sound of the train blowing it's horn echoed.

"Amethyst?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we going to carry the doughnuts and get me on the train at the same time?"

The gem's eyes widened. She nearly dropped her box of doughnuts.

"Ok, you stay in the wheel chair and hold onto the doughnuts- No! The bottom ones will slip out though! And you can't carry two at the same time!"

"Just pick the box we haven't opened and give it to me!"

The train was getting closer now, and he could hear the sound of it's wheels on the track. The ground beneath them started to vibrate as if it were alive. Amethyst grabbed the box from under the wheel chair and opened it.

"There aren't any Boston cream in here!"

"Boston cream is terrible!"

"Quick! Let's eat the last ones before the train gets here!"

Amethyst and Steven both tried to eat as many doughnuts as they could, but there was not enough time to finish them all. The gem picked Steven and the full box up. Then, they waited for the train to pass by. It was considerably slower compared to the one from before, but they still had to get a running start to jump into an open box car.

The landed safely in the box car. The ground beneath them was slightly unsteady, but it didn't cause either of them much of a problem. Amethyst sat down on the edge of the box car, dangling her legs out of the side. As the train sped away, the duo watched the abandoned box of doughnuts being whisked from their line of vision.

"Farwell, sweet doughnuts. I'll always remember you." Steven sniffled, his stomach growling. "Shhh. Don't cry..."

"Awww, cheer up man! No Boston cream here means more better doughnuts!"

Steven opened up the other box, curiously peeking inside.

"What?! There aren't any sprinkle doughnuts in here!"

Amethyst looked into the box, and realized that none of her favourite flavours were included. Just the weird ones like pumpkin spice and peppermint. it truly would have been better to simply take the almost empty box of doughnuts from before.

"We should have taken the first one."

* * *

There was an eerie wind that whistled through the cavern. It slunk in and out of the cavernous holes in the rock face, and threaded it's way through the snake-like shape of the rift. The near-identical holes in the rock loomed ominously, most of them little more than gaping, black openings in the stone. Everything was abandoned in the cavern, completely devoid of any living things.

Steven shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. It was cold in the canyon, and Steven felt as if he were being watched. The sun had long since vanished underneath the tall cliffs, tinting the sky a strange purple-pink colour. The whole cavern made Steven feel uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat, not knowing what they were doing in such a strange place. He had liked the sights on Earth before this, but here... This place was different from what he had seen before.

"What is this place?"

Amethyst beamed brightly at him, still pushing his wheel chair along.

"I know that you're mad at me for blabbing about your creation, so I thought I'd show you what mine looks like!"

"What was it like?"

She seemed to grow a little less happy at this;

"First, I'll let you in on a secret: I don't really like talking about mine either."

"Why not?" He wondered.

The gem didn't seem to hear the question. She have an excited gasp, pushing them over to one of the rocks on the ground.

"Oh, man. I missed this guy!"

"W-what is it exactly?"

"It's my climbing rock!"

The gem let go of his chair to scrambled up on to the top of the rock. She sat on it for a moment before sliding back down to run somewhere else. Steven was left staring at the climbing rock. Giving a quick laugh, he tried to smile and wave at the rock without betraying his nervousness.

"Uh, hello!"

Grabbing onto the wheels of his wheel chair, Steven tried to figure out how to turn around on his own. After fiddling around and mentally cursing his broken leg a few times, he managed to turn so that he could see Amethyst. She was standing over by a cluster of other rocks, eagerly talking about all of them.

"-and over there, that's the sitting rock!" The gem grinned, pointing to another rock. "And that was the one rock that I kicked into two rocks!"

Amethyst climbed up one of her various rocks so that she could sit down on top of it again. Steven once more looked around the cavern, still not quite so sure what he was looking at. This place seemed very bleak compared to what he had seen on Earth before. There was an unnatural aura to the entire place. The holes in the walls especially sent alarm bells ringing in Steven's mind.

For some reason, they reminded him of the Home World. But not in a comforting sort of way. There was just something about them, how the holes all looked exactly the same. Just repeats of the identical shape drilled into the cliff over and over again. From what he had seen on Earth, everything was unique, there were no two things that looked and were exactly the same. Not like the Home World. Why the sudden change?

"Uh, how long did you live here?"

Amethyst shrugged at the question.

"For awhile, I guess. Um, at least until I met Pearl and the others."

Falling off the boulder with a laugh, Amethyst ran farther off into the cavern. Steven, not wanting to be left behind in the creepy place, followed as quickly as he could after her. Rounding a bend, Steven came face-to-face with a... He didn't know what exactly it was, but the thing was resting on the ground.

It was tall. Not the fusion kind of tall, this was _really_ tall. The thing looked like it was a machine, made out of metal. The top of it was shaped like a gem, while the base half had a sharp, pointed drill fixed to it. The machine was supported in place by a series of spidery-looking legs, that had grown rusted and brittle with age. They clung into the ground like a metallic monster, creaking and swaying slightly in the breeze.

Steven shuddered, trying to steer his way around the machine.

"What is that thing?"

"Eh, it's just some old gem junk from a long time ago." Amethyst replied, tapping one of the legs. "It's probably busted by now."

The gem ran ahead of him again, leaving Steven to quickly catch up with her. He did not want to be alone in the canyon. The eerie sensation that washed over him grew stronger, and he couldn't help but look around to see if he was being watched. No one was there of course, except for him and Amethyst. The area was dead and deserted. The more time he spent here, the more he wasn't liking this place.

"Hey, Steven! Look! Here's the hole I came out of!"

"Hang on. What?"

Steven watched in horror as Amethyst slid backwards into the hole she was pointing at. The gem was completely swallowed by the inky darkness inside of the hole that fit her so perfectly.

"It's my hole!" She laughed. "Look- It's _me-siiiized!_ Still got that good hole smell!"

"Y-you came out of _this_ hole?

"This is where I was made, dude. One day just- _Pop!-_ Right out of this hole!"

Realization hit him with the force of a speeding train. Steven backed away from the hole, finally understanding what this place was.

"N-no... T-that can't be right! No! No! No!"

Amethyst stuck her head back out of the hole.

"What's eating _you?"_

"P-please tell me this isn't a k-kindergarten."

The gem now fully got out of her space.

"It's where I was made, duh!"

"But kindergartens aren't supposed to be l-like this! Y-Yellow Diamond said that they only-"

"Newsflash Steven!" Amethyst interrupted. "Home World, they were the _bad_ guys in the war. They did _bad_ things to the planet, and they do _bad_ things to other planets as well. Why do you think so many different gems started to rebel?"

"I-I... You're w-wrong! Amethyst, why isn't anything growing here?"

"That's what happens when you grow gems dude, they make the dirt worthless."

"T-tell the truth!"

"I am." Amethyst said.

Steven knew that an argument wouldn't get him anywhere. It never did anything other than cause trouble. Especially when he was stuck with a broken leg and had a still healing eye to deal with. Steven took in a deep breath of the chilly night air to help calm himself down. He slowly exhaled, and clenched his fists.

"I-I'm ready to g-go back now."

The grin on Amethyst's face vanished.

"What do you mean, leave? We just got here man!"

"I'm sure everyone's wondering where we are, wondering when we're going to come back."

Amethyst snorted at this.

"I bet they haven't even realized I'm gone."

"They'd know if you were missing!" Steven attempted to comfort.

"Not with how much they've been arguing." Amethyst grumbled. "It feels like they don't even know I'm there half the time. _Garnet_ doesn't talk to me, and _Pearl_ only wants to tell me _what_ to do and what I _should_ be instead of what I _am!"_

"Amethyst, I r-really don't want to be h-here."

The gem's once friendly, teasing tone of voice turned ominously dark. She sounded even more angry than she had just been mere seconds ago. A shadow crossed over her face, and the gem's eyes flashed dangerously. Keeping her voice lowered and teeth gritted, the gem snarled;

"I thought you said you wanted to see where I came from."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a warp pad being used. Amethyst and Steven turned to face the warp. The stream of light vanished, and Pearl came into view. Still standing on the warp pad, she quickly checked her surroundings. The gem saw the two of them standing there, and her eyes instantly widened.

"There you are! Garnet said you'd be here, but I didn't want to believe it!"

Even from where she stood, Pearl could hear what Amethyst was saying to Steven.

"Great. Here comes the fun police."

Growling to herself, Pearl strode down to where the run-away duo was. Glancing down at Steven, she realized that the boy was scared, shivering and attempting to not look up at either of them Steven wasn't scared of her, or getting in trouble like she would have expected at this point. The gem saw that he was frightened of Amethyst, and the kindergarten. There was no way that this run-away scheme was anyone's idea other than Amethyst's.

She had been furious when they first discovered that Steven was gone. But when it became evident that Amethyst wasn't anywhere either, everything changed. For the better part of the past month, Garnet had been arguing with her that Steven was not just a gem from the Home World, he was a human boy as well. And his own person. Pearl was slowly letting herself warm up to the fact, trying to not let her memory of Rose get in the way. But it became difficult when he seemed so much like her at times!

"Amethyst, what were you thinking?! I mean, running off is one thing, but bringing Steven to a- A _kindergarten?!"_

"I don't know." She mumbled, kicking a pebble. "We were in the _neighborhood."_

She looked down when Steven lightly tugged at her skirt.

"W-was Amethyst really made here?"

Right away, her gaze snapped back to Amethyst.

"How much did you tell him?"

"It wasn't like he didn't already know what a kindergarten was." Amethyst defended. "He's old enough to know about the rocks and the slightly different rocks."

"I-I didn't know t-they w-worked like this!" Steven whimpered. "I always thought no one was hurt!"

This did nothing to make Pearl feel any more calm about the situation. Steven seemed genuinely frightened and disgusted by the things that had happened in the kindergartens, just like Rose had been. And he had only seen the empty shell of what this place bad once been. That only made her feel inexplicably defensive of the boy. Glaring down Amethyst, she sternly repeated;

"How much did you tell him?"

"What? You mean about the _bad_ things?" Amethyst asked, steadily raising her voice. "How this _bad_ place is where _bad_ gems came to grow more _bad_ gems? Is that what you're talking about?!"

The gem grabbed onto either side of the wheel chair and leaned in to face Steven. The boy flinched and raised both hands to shield his face from hers. She plastered a demented smile on her face, and rose her voice to a sickly sweet and happy tone;

"Oh, but don't worry, Steven. Everything's _just_ fine now!"

"Amethyst." Pearl warned.

"It all worked out. We won!"

"Stop." Pearl commanded.

Amethyst continued with her tirade, leaning even closer to Steven.

"And we shut this place down so the Earth would be safe from _parasites **like ME!"**_

"AMETHYST! That's enough!"

Pearl grabbed on to the gem's shoulders and pulled her away from Steven. Grabbing, the wheel chair, she began to push Steven towards the warp pad.

"Steven, you won't be in any trouble. Garnet and I know that you didn't try to come to this _horrible_ place by choice."

The boy didn't say anything, still keeping his face covered. Pearl was taken aback when she heard Amethyst's voice speak from behind her.

"Then why don't you just **_LEAVE?!"_**

Before she could react, Amethyst had grabbed her weapon. She sent the whip flying at her, catching Pearl around the waist. She was thrown across the kindergarten, and hit an injector with a thud. Pearl quickly got back up to her feet, mentally still recovering from the attack.

"Admit it!" Amethyst snarled at her. "I'm just an embarrassment to you!"

The gem flung her whip once again, but Pearl was prepared this time. She rolled out of the way, summoning her own weapon. The whip lash hit one of the injector's legs instead, cutting clear through it. The precariously positioned machine jolted and groaned a little before stopping. Pearl paid no mind to this, twirling her spear before pointing it at Amethyst. Taking up an offensive stance, she yelled back;

"I don't want to fight you!"

"I wouldn't want to fight _me **neither!"**_

Shifting in stance, Amethyst growled at her. For a moment Pearl saw a wild look flash through her eyes. She barred her teeth, snarling and spitting at her in rage. The gem realized that Amethyst was fighting against her programmed instincts. But in the kindergarten of all places? That was fighting a loosing battle. She wasn't going to play nice, she was going to attack irrationally, hoping that she could stop being angry.

Pearl almost didn't have enough time to react to what happened next. Amethyst charged at her, curling up into a ball and dashing. She was a streak of violet, hoping to knock her back into the ground. Pearl leaped out of the way, and swung her spear outwards. Spheres of crackling, white energy formed at the tip of it and were sent blasting towards Amethyst.

"You always act like _nothing_ I say matters, because I'm a _bad_ gem, and I don't _know_ any better!"

Amethyst avoided the balls by leaping up into the air with an inhuman quality. She sent her whip fling down on her. Hearing the sound of it flying through the air, Pearl caught the end of the whip with her foot, pinning it to the ground. She swiped her spear through it, snapping the weapon and causing it to fade away.

"I'm _sick_ of you telling me what to do!"

Realizing that she had missed her target, Amethyst's attacks grew more wild and unpredictable. The gem was becoming enraged with herself and she couldn't concentrate on what she was doing. Pearl didn't know what to expect next from her, she was slowly loosing her edge of knowing when and where to strike and move out of the way.

"You can't beat me!" Pearl yelled.

_"I. **Don't.**_ **_CARE!"_** Amethyst screamed back. "I'm _not_ gonna' stand there and let you remind me of everything I _hate_ about myself!"

Reaching towards her gem, Amethyst pulled out two whips at her. Pearl tried to cut through them again, but the whips caught on to her spear. Amethyst then raised her arms and brought them back down again. A wave of purple light ran down the whips, exploding when they reached her. Pearl was flung back again, hitting an injector.

Pearl hit the ground hard. The gem groaned, struggling to get back up to her feet. But images were flashing before her eyes, she couldn't see what was happening past the events of the battle... She just stood there and did nothing, not able to save Rose on time. The axe split through her gem... Not able to do anything... Rose's killer walking towards her, planning on finishing the job. She was too weak. Not even strong enough to stop Amethyst from hurting herself.

She was just a pearl.

"I never asked for it to be this way! I never asked to be made!"

Pearl saw surprised to see tiny droplets of water hit the ground. Looking up, she realized that Amethyst was crying.

"Amethyst..."

Just then, the sound of rattling was heard. The injector gave a single, loud groan, slowly starting to tip over. Then it all came crashing down upon the two. In the distance, Pearl could hear Steven screaming Amethyst's name. The gem closed her eyes, waiting for the pain that was sure to come before she was poofed. But instead, nothing happened.

Pearl opened her eyes, and was surprised to see Rose's- Steven's... A shield hanging above her head. For a dizzying moment, all she could think back to was Rose and the war, how this _Steven_ was simply a copy of her, would never be as great as Rose had once been. But it all dissolved as she realized that Amethyst wasn't there with her.

The gem scrambled out of the wreckage, and the shield vanished. The rest of the pile collapsed with a tired sigh. It rose a cloud of metal flakes and dust. From where he sat at the warp, Steven pointed the pearl towards Amethyst's hole. He had seen her climb in there just before the injector had fallen down on the two of them.

The warp lit up. Steven, still nervous and twitchy, looked over at it. The fusion appeared, surveying the area. She didn't seem to notice him at first. Steven cleared his throat, letting her know that she was not alone. The fusion did not even bother to look at him, despite the tiny gesture he made.

"Where are the others?"

"T-they're down in one of the h-holes. Amethyst's hole."

The gem robotically turned to Steven and picked him up, wheel chair and all. She started to walk back towards the warp pad.

"Wait! They need you to be there as well!"

"They can work out their problems without me."

"It's not just about them!" Steven insisted. "It's your problem too."

The fusion remained silent, stepping on to the warp pad instead. Steven tried to call out to the two of them, but they had warped away before he could even get a single word out. They reentered the gem's base, and Steven quickly found himself being pushed into his cell once again.

"Wait! You need to talk as well!"

_Slam!_

Steven tried knocking on the door and yelling at the fusion, but she didn't seem to react in any way. At least that he knew of. After a few failed attempts at getting her attention, Steven decided to just give up. He wheeled his way over to his bed, and managed to get back. He was exhausted after the adventures he had been through today.

There was a problem though. After seeing the kindergarten, Steven could not get it out of his mind now that he had seen if for himself. It had been gems that destroyed the land there. Even after five thousand years, it had yet to recover. He had liked the Earth! He had liked the diversity and it's will to keep living! What could be so powerful as to stop all life from venturing there? From _growing_ there? Was the process of mass-producing gems that horrible? Could it be so toxic to the Earth that years had passed, yet nothing ever returned to the place?

But most importantly, why had Yellow Diamond lied to him?

Steven could almost feel the stinging slap the question would have brought. For once, he felt a tiny bit glad that he was away from his mentor, in a place where she couldn't figure out what he was thinking so easily. If she ever found out that he had actually _liked_ parts of Earth... It was just a tiny bit of course. Home World was the best world.

That still didn't explain why he had lied though.

In addition to the non-existent slap, Steven could hear her scathing tone of voice telling him the answer.

_"Only a few gems were hurt by the kindergarten. And those were the unimportant gems, the **defective** gems. They don't matter. They would have hurt the important gems if they weren't stopped."_

Steven clutched his stomach and whispered;

"But the Earth was hurt too."

_"They don't matter."_

The boy shook his head, ridding himself of the tiny voice. Suddenly he felt much more awake than he had been before. He really didn't want to sleep at this rate. Thoughts of the kindergartens and Home World kept coming back to him. Steven just wanted to stop thinking about all of it before his head decided to explode.

Reaching into his pillow case, Steven pulled out the mirror.

"Lapis, you aren't going to believe what I went through today." 


	8. Amalgam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING, THERE'S LIKE, A TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS IN THIS AN. PLEASE DON'T READ IT UNLESS YOU'RE WONDERING WHY THERE WAS A LATE UPDATE. ON SECOND THOUGHT. DON'T READ IT AT ALL. EMOTIONS ARE EVIL. 
> 
> Sorry for the later than usual update. I've had a lot of things on my plate, and it looks like I might have trouble getting the time to write more often, especially with school coming around the block. A quick explanation to that before the story though. It's not an excuse, (Excuses are like armpits, everyone has them, and they stink.) and it's definitely not me asking for sympathy. I hate sympathy. dOn'T gIvE mE sYmPaThY oR i WiLl... I Don't know what, but I'll do it if I get any. Don't. It's an explanation. Don't acknowledge it or anything... Just.. Read and move on...
> 
> For those unaware, my mum developed severe heart problems after she and my dad divorced. (She's been doing much better lately though.) However, her friend is getting a divorce, and I've been assigned the task of talking/comforting both of her kids, because I can offer perspective. In addition to that, I've been helping her move stuff out of the house. I've been doing a lot of it because my mum doesn't need any more stress than she already has. So, that's been taking up a lot of my time and has been a bit taxing on my emotions, because it's been dredging up some bad memories in he process.
> 
> And on top of all that, my dad recently had surgery. Which I was completely unaware of until yesterday last night. A whole week after said surgery. (Because I've been at my mum's.) Not only was I not told anything, I was not told that he was getting surgery to remove cancerous cells that had developed in his skin. FOR A SECOND TIME. My little brother doesn't know the part about this being the second time, or that this had to do with potential outcome of him developing skin cancer. I can't tell him those things either. I may not be close to that demon child, but I still don't appreciate the fact that I now have to keep this a secret from him. I wasn't given any time to process all of this before I went to my dad's (We live with him on weekends.), so my emotions are a bit of a disaster area right now. 
> 
> I'll just reiterate that this is a time thing, and not a lack of motivation or inspiration thing. This story has a lot going for it, and I hate not having the time to write what it deserves. Also, I've decided that if you try to give me sympathy, I will eat your soul. I don't care if they're high-fat! I will do it! So stop reading the author's note and go on to the chapter! Go! Stop reading the AN! You're here for a reason, and it's not to read about the author's emotions!

_Cold..._

She was so very cold. Wherever there now was. She tried to stretch her senses a little farther to understand her surroundings, but was instantly rebuffed. Trapped. Still trapped. It had been so long. She couldn't remember how much time had passed while trapped like this. It was chilly and uncomfortable. The cold typically numbed the awkward pain, yet for some reason, it wasn't working any more.

Why did it have to be so cold in here? She had been floating around, trapped in stasis for what had felt like an eternity. That was incorrect though. She had been free for a moment. Almost. Not so much as she would have hoped really. But she was nearly almost free. An accident of course, they'd almost slipped up. They caught their mistake before it was too late though.

Was that why her body hurt so much? Her gem... Was there something wrong with her gem? There had to be some sort of explanation for the cold. She tried to curl up, and block out the pain. She didn't want to know. She didn't want to focus on anything other than getting away, hurting those that had wronged her. She would show this horrible place. She would show them all.

But... Escape had to come first. Escape from the other gems that she knew held onto her. They were keeping her trapped here. She wouldn't let them though. She'd find a way out sooner or later. She had discovered a new gem before the frigid pain had set in on her. This gem was different. Part of it felt familiar, a familiar she could not understand. Trying to look at her memories, who she was... There was too much pain. It was better to just not think upon those things. There was only the present and the future to worry about.

When she thought of the gem, she saw the colour pink. This pink gem was not like the others that she had encountered during her stint. The pink gem was like her. In a way. They were both trapped. The gem didn't feel like any of the others. It had been the pink gem who had awoken her. Now that she was more conscious, her senses told her that the gems that always surrounded her were weak, much weaker than the pink gem.

_So very cold..._

She felt the presence of the pink gem and another pass through. A slight growl escaped her. She couldn't help it. What would they think of her growling and snarling like a common animal? Who would think? Who would care? She... She didn't really remember. Memories were too painful. She couldn't let herself go back to thinking about what had happened. None of it was pleasant. Even the good had turned fowl as she was reminded where she now rested.

Even the idea of her name seemed like some far-away concept. She tried to grasp at the memory. Surly it couldn't be too difficult. Her name still slipped her mind though. It was on the tip of her tongue, just barely out of reach. There. No. She knew it now, she was getting somewhere.

She was...

_Cold._

* * *

Steven's bed was on fire. His shower, sink, and bathroom area in general was on fire as well. The vast majority of his cell was on fire actually. The floor was glowing hot, black scorch marks wearing their way into it. The walls and the ceiling, which had been grey before, were now greasy and sooty with smoke. The only thing that wasn't on fire in the room was Steven, and the pillow he was standing on to avoid being burned by the floor. Hidden inside of the pillow case was Lapis.

The fire would have killed any other human being. Had it been a normal fire. Steven was half-tempted to lay down on the searing floor to keep warm. The air may have been smokey but it was also freezing cold. He could see his breath floating away and mingling with the smoke that was gradually accumulating at the ceiling. The boy was literally frying on a sheet of ice. Or was he freezing in a volcano?

"AAARRRAAAHHH!"

"Ruby, you burned his hot dog."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT HIS STUPID HOT DOG!"

The heat in the room seemed to swell, as the tiny, red, gem continued to pace around. She was waving her hands angrily, and smoke was literally pouring out from her mouth and ears as she spoke. Steven, not wanting to get on the bad side of either gem (Well, mainly the red one.) Gave a frantic nod of agreement.

"I-it's o-ok! I c-can just e-eat t-tomorrow!"

The blue gem turned her head to face him, but did not let go of her partner's leg.

"That's what you said yesterday." She informed Steven. "And the day before that."

An icy wind froze some of the steam in the room. It blew flurries and sleet in his direction. Steven then shivered, rubbing his arms to keep warm.

"C-can't you j-just get A-Amethyst to b-bring m-me something?"

"No."

"W-why not?"

Whatever the answer might have been, Steven would never know. The question made the other gem blow up, almost literally, at her partner.

"EVEN THEY'RE DOING IT!"

"That's none of our business." The blue gem said. "Unless it affects us."

"IT DOES THOUGH!"

"No it doesn't."

"YES IT DOES!"

The blue gem looked back at Steven again.

"I'll see what I can do about her."

The gem dragged her partner out of the room by the leg, and locked the door behind them. Steven could hear the ensuing no-yes argument as they left. The yes part of the argument faded, but the no end remained just as loud as when it had been inside of the cell. Someone really needed to do something about the thin walls that this place had. It was going to cause a problem one of these days.

Once the two left, the room reverted back to it's regular temperatures. The flurries melted into water and the water then evaporated, while the chill in the air evened everything else out. Steven's bed was still a charred mess though. The bathroom area now looked as if it had seen better days as well. The fire couldn't melt the porcelain per say, but it could warp and turn it a dusty black colour.

Steven took a careful step off of the pillow. He found that the floor was warm, but not enough to seriously burn him. The gem hobbled over to where his wheel chair had been resting. He tried pushing it, but the wheels were stuck to the ground. Well, he was back to square one with his broken leg. The cast was still irritating to walk in, but it didn't feel as heavy as it had once been. Dragging his leg around during his stay must have helped him build up some strength in it.

Sitting on his bed seemed a bit out of the question at the moment. The frame was already twisted out of proportion, and the cold had made it grow brittle and shatter in places. The flames had eaten away his blankets, and turned the mattress into a crumbling pile of burned fabric and ashes. The only things he really had left were the pillow and the mirror. What was he supposed to do now?

The boy sat down on the floor. Keeping his back against, the wall, Steven faced the door to the room, with his broken leg stuck outwards. He had gotten used to holding it in the same position all the time. That didn't make the experience any more pleasant of course, but he was at least able to adapt somewhat. The boy couldn't wait until he was freed from the cast.

Although, it did give him a better way to calculate the time that he had spent here. Amethyst had said that it would take ten or so weeks for the bones in his leg to heal and be positioned back together again. Even after that, his muscles would be sore from their lack of use. He was going to be _so_ behind in his training...

With the customary creaking sound, the door opened. Steven flinched, expecting one of the fusion's halves come back to wreak havoc. Instead, a different fusion stepped into the room. She was the fusion he had seen Amethyst and the pearl form before. The one who had a bow and arrows for weapons.

Why were they fused though? There was no emergency situation where they needed to out muscle any one. What was the point in being fused for being fused? It was dishonourable, and no self-respecting gem would ever consider doing something like that! Fusion was just a cheap tactic to make weak gems stronger. While Amethyst was no pushover when she actually let herself go, the pearl was something completely different! Why would she want to fuse with something that was so pathetically weak and archaic?

Also, didn't fusion require at least liking the other gem? Or at least having a mutual understanding? How was it that they were fused together when they did nothing but argue otherwise? Steven felt more and more questions pop up into his mind as he watched the fusion. He didn't find the answers to any of them though.

Finally, he decided to speak.

"Uh, h-hello!"

"Hello."

The fusion's voice was quiet in comparison to his. For a moment, Steven felt embarrassed at being so loud.

"So... You two are fused." Steven laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "What's up with that?"

She didn't say anything in return. The fusion instead set down the box that she was carrying. Steven had not noticed it until now. She pulled out new bed covers and a new pillow, replacing the burned one. Rather than placing them on the charred bed, she handed them to Steven. The boy set them down next to him.

"Could I uh, maybe speak to Amethyst?" Steven asked.

"You are."

Again, the boy gave a slightly nervous laugh.

"I, I kinda' meant just Amethyst."

"No."

"Er, alright then."

The boy could tell that the fusion was concentrating on something. He was not quite sure what though. The feeling of the room around him seemed to change slightly. To his amazement, the damage of the room was suddenly repaired. Everything was replaced and back to the way it was before the two gems had destroyed it. It was admittedly more the red one's fault than the blue's, but she had still played a part in messing with everything in his room.

The gem mentally placed a thought at the back of his mind. The gem's hideout could be altered by sheer will. It might have been solely keyed to the gems that lived here, but there was a chance that he might be able to do something with it as well. That would be useful in aiding their escape out of here. He'd just need to learn how...

Before she left again, Steven attempted to make conversation with Amethyst and the pearl again.

"Why are you two fused?"

Neither of them wanted to answer his question. With a swish of her long, blonde hair, the fusion left the room. Steven gave a defeated sigh. Why were the gems here so confusing?

* * *

Ruby absently rubbed her gem. A slight twinge of pain ran up her arm, leaving a trail of buzzing behind it. The gem winced slightly, wishing that it would just go away already. But the pain had been there constantly. At least, ever since she and Sapphire had worked together to destroy the Home World warp pad.

It may have been weeks now, but the damage caused by it seemed more permanent than that. She had been hurting non-stop ever since they had broken that stupid warp so no more stupid gems could come to this stupid planet to do stupid things to it. The pain made her see red. An even redder red than usual.

_"I doubt that's possible."_

Ruby growled. Even when she wasn't fused with Sapphire, she could hear her partner's voice. How was that even possible?! Sapphire wasn't even in the same body as her let alone in the same room! And there was criticism involved! She always had to be so cool and calm about everything! Especially when now was a perfectly good time to be freaking about everything!

A gem, and not just any gem, a half-human that just so happened to share the same gem as Rose showed up on Earth! From the Home World no less! Sure it may have just been one big accident, but now they were stuck with the gem! There was no way to return him either, and even if they did, that would cause more trouble!

That was not even the worst part of it though! Now that Garnet wasn't there, she couldn't see anything! Sapphire refused to tell her what she saw in the future. And kisses at this point?! That was even more impossible with how they had been unfused for the past while!

The finishing blow to things was that _they_ had _fused!_ Ruby didn't really know or care about what had happened between Amethyst and Pearl, but now they were Opal! For no reason at all! What happened to only fusing for emergencies?! Why were they choosing to stay like that?! Last time she checked, the two couldn't stand each other! So why now of all times were they sticking together?

Oh how she just wanted to grab her _stupid_ long hair and strangle her _stupid_ long neck with it! Or better yet, tie up her four arms with that gross skirt-sash... Whatever that thing was that they wore on their legs! She didn't care about what it was really called! Even if it did have a name, it was _stupid!_ So there!

Ruby was snapped out of her angry revery when she realized that her eyes were literally melting a hole in the stone wall of her room. The gem averted her gaze from it, not wanting it to melt clear through to Sapphire's room. It had happened a few times already, and she was in no way ready to deal with her partner again!

Oh! And then there was another thing that she was mad about! That... The... The Steven! She didn't care if he was really half-human! He was from Home World! That meant he hated all things Crystal Gem! There was no way that could ever be conditioned out of his mind! There was no doubt that he had been completely brainwashed!

_"Rose had been like him once as well you know. Before she came to Earth..."_

"AAARAAAGH!"

Ruby grabbed her hair, and gave a frustrated scream. The gem stomped the floor in anger. Tremors ran throughout the room, and the lava below her stirred. Dust and rocks fell from the ceiling, and the stalactites above wobbled precariously. Then, there was a sharp cracking sound.

Before the gem could realize what was happening, the floor underneath her feet cracked and gave away. The gem was sent plunging downwards into the darkness of the temple. She snapped out of her shock when she hit the bottom of the hole. Or rather, the bottom floor of the temple. Where the Steven was kept.

Unfazed by her fall, the gem got back up to her feet. Dusting some of the rubble off of her shoulder, the gem prepared to start on an angry rant once again. Now there was a hole in her room! What was she going to do about that?! Was the lava going to drain out of it now?! Oh perfect!

Suddenly, the sound of laughter caught her attention. The Steven of course. For a moment, she thought that he was laughing at her. But the gem realized that it couldn't have possibly been that. It wasn't like he had a window to see through the wall. Her anger waned slightly. What was the Steven laughing about anyways? It wasn't like being locked away in the deepest part of the temple was entertaining.

Ruby walked closer to the door. Sure enough, she could hear that the Steven was not only laughing, but talking. And singing! The kid must be loosing his mind in there. Either that, or he was so lonely that he was talking to himself to keep from going nuts. Either way, it was annoying. She could hear a little of what he was half-singing, half-speaking.

"-And that's the song I made up about those edible ice-cream-cat-people I met this one time! I still can't believe that they'd leave their family behind to fight in an interstellar war though... We don't have families, but they seem really important to a lot of different aliens out there. Wait! I forgot about the special chorus I added in there! It comes right after... Hmmm... Here's a frozen treat, with an all new-"

Ruby, not wanting to hear any more of the Steven's song, punched the cell door.

"STOP! SINGING!"

"Ruby! Did you melt though the floor again?!"

The gem growled when she heard Sapphire's voice. Well that was great, just fantastic! Now she was going to be in hot water for breaking her floor again! Ruby stomped off, heading in the opposite direction of Sapphire's voice.

* * *

Heart pounding, Steven kept the mirror pressed to his chest. That had been close. If any of the gems found out that he was talking to the mirror and it spoke back... Luckily, the gem did not seem to have any reason to actually bother with him. The boy remained tense until he was certain that the gem had left for elsewhere. He could tell because the wall he was leaning against became much cooler, and her screams steadily grew more dim.

"I think she's gone now." Steven said.

"Too. Close." Lapis replied.

"I like their fusion a lot better." He sighed.

"Fusion. Bad."

"I know that."

"Fusion. Bad."

"I get it." Steven repeated. "Fusion is bad."

"Fusion. Bad."

Steven looked at the mirror curiously. Why was Lapis repeating herself so much? He already knew that fusion was just a slick trick that weak gems used. It was wrong, gems should all remain in place and perform their proper purposes. That was why there were stronger gems and weaker gems. They were all made for a reason, and it would be wrong to defy what their programed objective was. All of them should be glad that they had the life and the physical body that they did.

"Fusion bad."

His new friend continued to repeat the phrase. Steven just absently nodded in agreement. He knew that being fused was wrong. Any and every good gem knew that. Unless... Was there another meaning to her words? Then, it hit the boy. She meant the actual fusion! The one that had split into two forces of havoc! The gem frowned at this. He didn't think that she was too, too bad. Even if she was a fusion. Still, it was better to stop Lapis from repeating herself.

"You mean, the fusion is bad." Steven corrected.

"Yes."

He nodded again.

"I know, all of them are. Well, not Amethyst so much-"

"Amethyst. Bad."

A tiny part of Steven disagreed with her. Amethyst was the best of the group. She hadn't threatened him with bodily harm, and she actually realized that he needed food to survive. Not only that, she had introduced him to one of mankind's greatest inventions: The doughnut. How could he not love the doughnut after he had eaten so many of them! They came in so many different flavours as well, It was impossible to hate anyone who knew of such magical wonders!

She was still an enemy though... She had lied to him, and broken her promise as well. And not long ago, she had taken him to... A kindergarten. Steven shuddered, and pushed the memories out of his mind. There was a perfectly logical reason for why the kindergarten was there. And, it had only hurt a small part of the planet. Surely it couldn't be all that bad then!

"Amethyst. Bad."

"I know." He repeated. "She is more friendly though."

"Amethyst. Not. Friend. Don't. Trust. Crystal Gems."

"I won't." He promised.

"I'm. Your. Friend. Steven."

The face of the mirror fogged up. Again, an invisible finger traced across the back of it. A circle appeared, followed by two lines and then another half circle. She had made a smiley face. Steven grinned back at the face, playfully sticking out his tongue. Lapis copied the action, and the two of them laughed together.

"We'll. Get. Home. Together."


	9. Rose's Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to clear something up before anyone asks. Home World days are much longer than Earth days. (Steven alludes to that in chapter three.) So the courses of action they take and the gem's attitudes at points may seem more lax when compared to those on Earth.
> 
> Just for fun, I'll say: 
> 
> 7 Earth Days = 1 Home World Day
> 
> Thus, Steven's been gone for seven (Earth) weeks/forty-nine (Earth) days as of this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe.

The blue one was nearly as cold as her. But the red one was the exact opposite. She could almost feel herself thawing out from her prison whenever she passed by. None of the gems in the temple paid her any mind though. She'd probably slipped their minds the moment she was left to remain there, rotting, a prisoner. She hated those gems. If she could, she would've broken out and torn them all to shreds, melted down their physical forms and laughed at them. Or better yet, keep them prisoner instead.

The red gem really was angry though. She could tell that the pink gem had to do with some of it. She could sense his aura on her. The pink gem was warm-feeling in comparison to the blue gem, but was nowhere near as warm as the red one. She could sense him in the temple when she rook the time to think and expand her vision. Even then, she couldn't "see" very far out.

It was frustrating. But that didn't matter. She was growing stronger, even as the others around her became more weak. The pink gem was growing stronger as well. His power was limited, almost like his gem had been shattered. He only had half the power he should've been able to wield. With injuries, the pink gem was weaker than the others.

The pink gem had almost freed her once before, and there was a chance that he might do it again. If she could get the pink gem, they could work together. They could... Form... A pack of sorts... No, that was such an animalistic term. They could be... What was the word? She knew it. The word was there somewhere... Allies! They could be allies!

And if he didn't want to help her, then she would use his power herself. She would get out of here! Or her name wasn't-

What was her name?

* * *

"Yellow Diamond, the peridot has sent her superior another report."

"Send them to me."

"Yes ma'am."

The gem pulled up the report on her computer screen, and almost instantly gave a sigh of disgust. It was all written in the horrible, ancient script that all the lower-down technicians used. The jargon was horrible, to the point where it seemed like it belonged more on an ancient document rather than an important update. Of course, their planet's surviving texts had important information on them, that any self-respecting gem could read.

What she had here was simply a mess. The way the peridot had actually written the report made it even worse. She made it clear through her self-righteous tone that she thought she was doing well on her mission, and hoped to be rewarded for it. But with such crude writing, it was anything but the truth. In fact, just staring at it made her eyes hurt.

"Zircon, remind me again why we don't upgrade the peridots?" Yellow Diamond sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Because they're not important enough to draw the attention of important gems like you ma'am, thus they can be inefficient. At least when compared to certain gems."

Her secretary did have a point there. The last thing they needed was another pearl-like uprising.

"Thank-you."

The gem switched off the face-to-face chat on her screen. She went back to focusing on the report that the peridot had made. In short she summarized a bunch of useless information on kindergartens that she had passed by during her trip. Had the idiotic excuse for a gem actually stopped at every single planet on the way?! Honestly!

Maybe she should have been direct with her orders, and just commanded the peridot to specifically search for Steven. But, there was always the risk of those Crystal Gems on Earth getting in their way and starting another war over Steven. They had to be subtle and sneaky about things. This was not something she was prepared for. They had no idea what the number of gems might be on their planet, even though many had been lost during the war. Especially after their leader's shield parted with her.

Not only that, but Rose Quartz had been experimenting on creating plants to heal the kindergartens after the land became useless. If she had finished that technique before her demise, there was a chance her followers had gotten their hands on it. Then they could infinitely create gems while healing the planet! They could have entire armies of gems waiting for them.

This was a key reason on why they needed Steven back, as soon as possible. He had the Rose Quartz gem. She could picture all sorts of horrible things happening if the Crystal Gems got their traitorous hands on him. Steven had her powers, and the gems on Earth would no doubt know about some of Rose's many projects. If they could force Steven into doing as they wished...

Steven was half-human for a reason after all. It cut his powers in _half._ He'd only be _half_ the gem that Rose Quartz was, and hopefully, would have _half_ the compassion and need to care for others that she had. Well, any species would have done actually, but humans were somewhat genetically similar to a gem. At least their physical form. Not only that, there was a delicious irony behind it as well. If Rose Quartz loved humans so much, then she could be one! _Half_ of one...

Humans had the useful trait of being able to regenerate certain parts of their body as well. Ancient studies showed that they were made of tiny organisms that compiled into one big living thing. Almost like the ultimate fusion. Except even more disgusting than that. These tiny living things were utterly useless on their own, much like a weak gem, but together, they made something stronger. Cells was the word to describe them. Cells...

If a gem could be formed out of these, cells, just like a human, then no amount of injury would be able to destroy it. The gem could continue to regenerate, filling up the cracks or mending itself again. Over and over. At least until the cells became cancerous and stopped reproducing parts that actually functioned.

"Yellow Diamond?"

Zircon popped up on her computer screen again, snapping the gem out of her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"A peridot just reported that one of the warps went down completely. Actually, it was some time ago, but it was only fixed now. Kind of."

The gem gave a sigh, and leaned back in her chair. Rubbing her temples, she asked;

"And this is being brought to my attention because?"

"Peridots are horribly inefficient, but not archaic enough to take seven days in fixing it."

"What do you mean by 'kind of' fixed?"

"It's dead on the other end."

"And the other end leads to-?"

"Earth."

So that was how Steven had warped to Earth! It all made so much sense now. Why had she not considered how he had vanished before all of this?!

"Why did it take so long?"

"The warp pad was emitting an energy not unlike the kind used in gem destabilizers." She explained. "This kind was less diluted, and several peridots were cracked in the process. Also- Never mind, it's beneath your notice ma'am."

"What is it?"

"One of our red eyes went down."

"How long ago was that?"

"A few days."

The gem gave a slow, pained exhale. She already knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but she felt like there was no other choice.

"Where did it go down?"

"Earth."

The only thing powerful enough on Earth to destroy a red eye was a light cannon that had belonged to Rose Quartz. But only she could activate it.

The Crystal Gems knew that Steven was there.

And they were forcing him to use his powers.

This was not good.

* * *

Sapphire gave a drawn-out sigh. This only served to infuriate Ruby even more, as she continued to keep her cool. The meeting room they had set up had to be rearranged after Ruby and Sapphire split, while Amethyst and Pearl fused. Sapphire refused to sit next to Ruby, especially since she was being so angry and not seeing reason. This might have been nothing different if not for the problem that it had been a week since they had split. Neither of them had been this far apart from each other since the war. Even then, that had not been out of their own volition.

So, her side of the room doubled in size, as did Sapphire's. Amethyst's and Pearl's were both split in half to form one wedge of the triangular room. As per usual, they had all joined together for yet another meeting. They had been having a lot of these ever since the Steven had arrived from Home World. The problem was that they could not agree on what to do about him even now! Pearl wasn't even here, at least, not fully. But a new argument in the Steven conundrum had arrived.

They had come to the agreement that he was not a threat or danger of any sort. Unless one counted the time when he had bitten Garnet's hand. Could half-humans contract rabies? That didn't matter though. Amethyst seemed to have balanced out Pearl on the idea, because Opal remained stable as they settled for this. Maybe she would finally stop hating the Steven once she an Amethyst unfused.

They would have to unfuse at _some_ point. They _were_ going to separate. Because two fusions on the same team might cause trouble. And she could not stand to see the two of them fused while she and Ruby were in a cooling off period so to speak. For Ruby, it was more of a heat up and destroy her room for the eighth time in a day period.

"I say we beat 'im up for information about the Home World!" Ruby declared, summoning her weapon.

Sapphire daintily pushed down her raised fist.

"We don't need to beat him up to get information. He doesn't like lying as it is."

"We can knock him senseless anyways." Ruby growled, pulling away her hand.

"We have no reason for it." Sapphire countered.

"It's not like he doesn't deserve it."

"He _doesn't_ deserve it." She pointed out.

"He's from Home World Sapphire! He hates us and you know it! Don't you remember what they did you you?! What they did to _us?!"_

"You're letting prejudice blind you."

Ruby opened her mouth to yell, but she interrupted her partner.

"Look. We're going to be bubbling him soon anyways. You can be the one to send him back to his gem if you want."

Opal had been leaning back in her chair until this point. She had been listening attentively to the bickering, but she didn't want to interrupt what Ruby and Sapphire were going through. It had happened countless times, and it was best to stay out of the way to let them settle their differences. When she heard this, the normally coordinated fusion fell out of her chair.

"What?"

"We decided that it's best for Steven to remain in his gem with the corrupted ones." Sapphire coolly explained. "It's not healthy to keep him locked up like this."

Conflicting emotions ran through Opal's head. For a moment, the fusion thought that she was going to split back again. She gripped the table, and clenched her teeth, fighting back the need to unfuse. They... Had been... Happy... They'd been doing... So well... Not now... Not now... The edge of the table snapped under the pressure she placed upon it.

"W-why?"

"Ruby and I have both heard Steven talking to himself, and he's loosing weight again."

_"Well maybe if you stopped burning his food-"_

_"I gave them a specific meal plan for him! Veggies for lunch, and on every other Tuesday he was supposed to get a-"_

"I-I don't l-l-like this." Opal said. "S-Steven is-"

_"Human."_

"Home World."

"-young. He needs to be-"

_"Bubbled and locked away."_

_"No way! He's a kid! He needs to be free!"_

"I-I... I need to go!"

Opal ran out of the meeting room and down the stairs. She ignored the arguments and the thoughts inside of her head, and didn't stop running until she had reached the outside of the temple. In one graceful leap, she reached the top of the temple, where the hill had formed and grown over top of it. Once she got there, the fusion flopped down on the grass, dangling her legs over the cliff.

Finally, she let the two separate thoughts running through her head catch up as well. The fusion took several calming breaths, trying to prevent the argument she knew might brew. They couldn't be split up now. Especially with Garnet gone. And they had been doing so well, they had been fine up until this point. Everything had just been fine!

"I-I don't understand." She said. "You were- we- it was all ok."

"Should we-"

"No." She replied. "One of us needs to stay fused when Garnet isn't here."

"But aren't you-"

"What about you?"

The fusion took in a long breath of the salty ocean air, calming herself down again. The never-ending sound of the waves was soothing. She matched her breaths to the time of the ocean rolling inwards and outwards. In, out. In, out. In, out...

"I-I l-like being us. Opal is... She makes me feel like I could live up to what you and Garnet always tell me to be."

"Amethyst, I told you that I-"

"I know that! Even though you've told me, I still feel like-"

"I know." She said. "When I'm with you, I feel stronger. I feel like I can actually do something. Even though you and Garnet have said-"

"You're important P. We wouldn't be the Crystal Gems without you."

Opal sniffled and laughed at the same time. The gem wrapped all four of her arms around herself in a hug.

"What should we do about Steven though?" She asked.

"I... I think I see why you like him." The fusion admitted. "He's not so bad. He's just-"

"Scared. And homesick. But with him calling you-"

"Rose used to do it all the time." She quietly said. "Before Earth, before everything..."

"Steven is not Rose."

"I know."

The conversation between herselves faded into a serene silence. The fusion slowly closed her eyes, and let the warm day outside wash over her. The fusion kept her breathing in time with the waves until she felt like herself again. When she concentrated, she could tell that Amethyst and Pearl were finished talking with each other, and were willing to let her take the reigns once again.

Taking the time to rest and talk to each other seemed like the right choice. Opal felt even stronger than before. The fusion leapt down from the hill and reentered the temple. Hopefully Ruby and Sapphire had not completely trashed the place in her absence.

* * *

Steven was laying on his recently made fortress. Sure, he had been the one the build it all, but Lapis had been helpful in telling him how to design it. She said that one of her favourite buildings had a room similar to the one that he had set up. The place was called the Sea Spire, and it had apparently been the only place on Earth she had ever truly loved.

The mattress was flipped on it's side, and they were using it as a pretend wall. After that, they had taken his blankets and used it to build the entrance and the roof of the fort. They'd pulled his bedside table into the center, and set up pillows for chairs all around it. With a little creative positioning, Lapis was able to remain facing upwards. Steven sat cross-legged across from his friend.

"What do you miss about home the most?" Steven asked.

"The. Other. Gems."

"Yeah." He sighed. "I miss a lot of them as well."

Steven made sure not to go into detail about who exactly it was that he missed. He had revealed his identity one too many times already, and he had been doing a good job of not telling Lapis too much. He wasn't lying about anything, but Steven still felt a little bad that he couldn't come clean with everything.

"Lapis, did you loose anyone in the war? You don't have to answer! I- uh, I was just wondering."

"I don't know."

"We'll look for them once we get back home." Steven promised. "Now a days, we have all sorts of ways to trace gem history. You'll love the libraries they have built now."

Lately, he'd been filling his friend in about a lot of technology back home. Lots of stuff had changed, and he wanted her to be ready for all of it once they finally arrived back where. Five thousand years of changes was a lot to take in, and Steven made sure to put all of his history knowledge towards explaining things. For once, his lessons on gem culture had actually been good for something! Steven had no idea how other gems remembered what was usually a lot of boring stuff.

Their conversation was interrupted when the temperature in the room got significantly warmer. Steven instinctively hid the mirror in his cast. It was a better hiding place than the pillows, especially since he had just barely saved her from being melted last time.

"What are you doing?"

"Building a fort!" Steven said. "Wanna' join in?"

"NO! Clean up this mess!"

The gem stomped her foot as she said so, causing a tremor to run through the room. She then left without giving him his food again. After a moment, she opened the cell door again, and slid in his tray of food. Once the room temperature had faded back down again, Steven knew that it was safe to come out. He glanced at his food and wrinkled his nose.

"More vegetables. Gross."

Despite his disgust at receiving vegetables, the boy still dutifully ate his food. He didn't really have a choice on the matter as it was. Mid-way through his meal, Steven took it back to the side table in his fort. But before he could finish anything off, something caught his attention. There was a small crack on the floor, that ran underneath his bed. He could see a faint light coming from the spot underneath the bed.

There was a hole in the floor. Steven couldn't believe his luck! Crawling under the bed was no easy task, especially with his broken leg, but there was a decent amount of space for him to get around. Steven tried peering through the crack, but all he could see was a blinding light. The walls here were rather thin though. Maybe the floor was too.

Silently hoping that what he was about to do wouldn't hurt too much, Steven tried punching the floor. It hurt like crazy, but the crack turned into a hole. And then that hole turned into an even larger hole. Steven screamed as the sensation of falling took over his body. Except, he didn't make impact with anything. The boy opened his eyes, wondering what had happened to him.

He was crouching in a room that seemed to be composed soeley of fluffy-pink clouds. When he looked down at the spot where the hole should have been, Steven was surprised to discover that it had vanished back into the pink. Astonished, the boy got to his feet, and turned to look around the room. He was surrounded in a sea of pink clouds, that seemed to go on endlessly.

"Wow... Lapis, check this out!"

Pulling the mirror out of his cast, he showed her the room.

"Where are. We?" She wondered.

"I don't know. A hole showed up when the door got slammed again, and then I tried going through it!"

"That's. What. Happens. When you. Slam. The door. Too often."

They both laughed at this.

"Steven. We can escape. Now."

The boy frowned at this. He gave a double-take of the room.

"I don't see any exit. Or how I can get away on a broken leg."

"True. But. Your leg. Will. Be. Better. Soon."

He nodded at this.

"Now, we just need to find some sort of way out of here."

Steven dropped back down onto his hands and knees again. He pushed some of the clouds to the side, hoping to find some way out. Instead, he found that the floor was made of even more clouds underneath it. Steven tried to push them away too, but with no result. The gem gave an annoyed sigh and got back up to his feet.

"Why does it have to be so hard to get out of here?! You're a room made of clouds! All I want is a way to get out of here!"

Suddenly, a group of clouds crowded together. They lost the pink hue. Steven was rendered speechless when he realized that the room had given him a way to get out. Opening the door, he saw his room again, at least from underneath his bed.

"Whoa! Cool!" He laughed. "I wonder if this place does other things? How about, a doughnut?"

A doughnut appeared in his outstretched hand. However, when Steven tried to take a bite of it, the doughnut turned back into clouds. The boy frowned a little at this.

"No food then... How about... A tiny floating whale?"

A pink, scaled-down what appeared, floating next to Steven. It gave him a high-five before vanishing.

"That's awesome." He grinned. "But we should get back before anyone notices we're gone."

"Yes."

"Now... I want a door back to my room!"

A door appeared, this one on the floor. Steven opened it. When he stepped back inside, a slight head rush came over him. The gravity in this place was really strange. It felt as if he had been flipped upside down, and all the blood was going towards his head. When the dizzy, pulsing feeling wore off, Steven found that he was back underneath his bed again.

Remembering the gem's words, he started to tidy up the fort. Hiding the hole was surprisingly easy. All he had to do was keep the bed skirt in place, and no one would be able to see the hole. Just to be safe, he covered it with a pillow so that no light would be shining through as well.

After one final check of the room, Steven felt a diabolical grin spread over his face. He couldn't help but laugh, Lapis joining in with him.

"Those Crystal Jerk-Faces won't even know what hit them!"

"When. Your leg gets better. We can escape." She said.

"And we'll have the upper hand."

"STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF!"

Steven stuck his tongue out at the door, and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"We'll be out of this soon."


	10. Mirror Gem

_In..._

_Out..._

_In..._

_Out..._

Steven lay flat out on his back. He kept his hands resting on top of his gem. They rose and fell with each controlled breath that he had taken. He was concentrating on his gem, trying to feel and be nothing but it. He imagined hearing the sounds of the beach outside: Waves crashing onto the beach, sea birds squawking at nothing, and the slight breeze, stirring the sand.

It was difficult to stop his mind from wandering to other subjects. It happened inevitability, but he was focusing more and more on the same thing over again. Through patient practice, he was able to block all other thoughts out. In his mind, he pictured his gem. It was apart of him, he could see it clear as day, even with his eyes shut tight.

His gem was the size of his fist, and the top of it was divided into a pentagonal shape. The colour of his gem remained the same throughout, except for a slight impurity straight down the middle of it. The line was not jagged, like a crack, but rather a clear-cut, straight line. As if it had been cut clean through with an axe before forming back together. Except for the stray part that ran down his middle, his entire gem was translucent. He could see through some of the faces of it, but not all of them.

The thing he focused on from there was the colour of his gem. It was a dark, rosy pink, that was almost red. His gem always had a lighter pink shine to it, as he made sure to keep it polished well. The wispy line down the middle of his gem was the faintest of pinks, bordering on white. The three colours swam before his eyes, chasing each other in a circle. Slowly at first, but then growing faster in speed. They caught up and blended into a singular, pink blur, and then...

"SHEILD!"

Steven puffed out his stomach, snapping his eyes open at the same second. But to his disappointment, no shield had formed. His gem had not even begun to glow. His bubble hadn't formed either, and this was the way he had learned how to summon it. Sighing in frustration, Steven turned on his side and picked up Lapis.

"It didn't work."

"Do not worry. Steven." She said.

"But if I can figure out how to use my shield, there's less a chance of us getting hurt."

The mirror gem was silent for a moment.

"Try. Think. About. When. You. Use. Shield."

"Right." He nodded. "Whenever I use my bubble, it's because I'm going to get hurt. But, I can't bubble other people unless they're near me."

"Good."

"I used my shield like that. Once." He said.

"Yes."

"And the other time, the Crystal Gems could've died."

"Crystal Gems. Bad."

Steven felt a slight twist in his stomach.

"I don't want them dead though." He quietly said. "I don't want anyone dead."

"You are good. Steven."

Steven had gotten used to some of the things that Lapis said. She couldn't really say much, even with all the words that he had thought up for her to use at the time. Still, once in a while, her short statements were slightly confusing. And a little bit creepy. Not that he would admit either of those things to himself. He had no one else with Amethyst gone.

Besides, Amethyst was one of the Crystal Jerks. She was cool, but she was still an enemy. As a future gem warrior, he knew that letting the enemy trick you into thinking they were nice was a popular tactic. It didn't matter if they had fun together and she seemed to care about his feelings and how he missed home. So long as their views on gems were different, there was no way they could ever truly get along. He'd been reminded of that multiple times by Lapis.

Even if an ever-familiar, miniscule part of him didn't agree with what he was being told.

"Shield. Protect."

"That's right. Shields protect. This is just like the room we discovered! I _want_ to protect fellow gem warriors!"

"Crystal Gems. B-"

"I know." He cut in. "I mean, none of them are warriors, but we were sort of allies when I went to the kindergarten that time. Fighting is messy, and a lot of people get hurt."

Lapis replayed what Steven had said earlier;

"I don't want anyone dead."

"Right." He said. "Most gems just want to fight all the time instead of just being peaceful and figuring things out. Just look at the Crystal Mean-Faces! They poofed me without ever talking. And when I was training on Home World all the warriors there... They _really_ liked what they did."

The gem shuddered slightly at the memories of the different veterans he had met. A lot of them still seemed to be rather young. Not many gems had lived through the infamous war that had taken place on Earth. Those that did mostly were adverse to talking about it. But all of them had one thing in common: They relished all of the violence, to an un-gem-like extent. They all had small chips in their gems, and told stories about the glory of battle and the satisfaction of taking out the weak.

One had even gone as far as to show the "souvenirs" she had gotten from her felled enemies. It was a jar filled to the brim with gems that had been crushed into dust. The warrior had opened the jar and poured a little of it in Steven's hand. Instead of reforming into a limb like gem shards normally did, the dust scuttled across his hand like countless little bugs. Matching gem pieces all gathered together in organized piles, and attempted to reform back. When the colour-coded piles were stirred back together, the process started all over again.

Yellow Diamond had thought it was funny, and the warrior did as well. Steven had no choice but to join in laughing with the both of them. Pretending that he had found toying with the dusty remains of fallen gems so pathetic that it was funny. It was the first time he had ever wondered about what death was like for a gem, and what death would be like for a half-gem.

If he stuck around on Earth any longer, something told him that he would find the answer.

* * *

Steven had grown used to the regular appearances of the gems. None of them ever knocked at the door. Although, that would have been strange considering the situation. They simply just opened the door slowly, and looked through the crack to make sure that he was not hiding behind the door. After his escape attempt with that method, all of them had followed the same procedure.

That was why he found it weird when someone knocked at the door.

Steven quickly hid the mirror in his cast. Not a second later, the door was opened in the usual, cautious fashion. He saw the ruby and sapphire (Steven had only learned what gems they were from their arguments.) Stick their heads through first. To his disappointment, Amethyst was still fused with the pearl. Their fusion stuck her head in the room last.

Knowing that he was on the bed, the group of gems entered the room together. The door was quickly shut behind them. Something about the heavy, slamming noise it made sounded more ominous than usual. The trio all remained in front of the door, tense, as if waiting for him to make some attempt at escape. Two sets (And a half.) Of eyes rested on him. The gem felt his hair begin to stand on end.

"Uh, hello." He greeted.

The sapphire stepped towards him, which prompted Steven to sit up in bed.

"Steven, we are concerned about your mental well-being."

Confused, he looked between the three.

"It means you're crazy and we're going to bubble you." The ruby said.

Silence reigned through the room. He was stunned at the words, not able to believe what he was hearing. Then it all sunk in. Fear was the first thing to strike him. Not inside of his gem again! He had trouble going back into it. And he would have to be hurt for them to do that! What if they went too far? What if he was killed instead? Being human too meant he couldn't do all gem things! What if he went into his gem and didn't come out of it this time? No. He wasn't going back. He wasn't going to go back!

"Ruby!"

"What?"

"I-I don't get what y-you guys mean."

The gem tried to set a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away before she could.

"It's not healthy for you to be locked up. And we know that you've been talking to yourself."

_"Talking to myself?"_

"Which is why we're beating you up until you're poofed again."

"Ruby!" She hissed, nudging her partner. "What she means to say is that you won't feel a thing."

A cold sweat broke out on his face. Steven felt his heart rate triple, and his arms began to shake. The boy tried to think of something to say, or do, but he came up blank. He was backed into a corner and there was no where for him to go. He was trapped, and they wanted to keep him in his gem for the rest of eternity like all of the others!

"G-guys, I really don't think y-you have t-to-"

The trio ignored him as the sapphire commanded;

"Opal, get his shoulders, I'll take his legs."

Steven was flattened onto his back as two sets of arms pressed down on his shoulders and hands. The fusion appeared over his field of vision. He could only make out the silhouette of her face against the bright light coming from the ceiling. Steven still knew that she was purposely averting her gaze. Raising his head, he saw that the sapphire had grabbed onto his uninjured leg.

All that left was the ruby. From his spot, Steven could barely see his feet, let alone the rest of the room. He had no idea where the foul-tempered gem had gone, and the temperature gave him no indication as to where she was. His foot was beginning to freeze in the sapphire's grip though, and he fought to get away from the other gems.

"No! Let go of me!"

"Ruby, just grab him by the neck."

"He's half-gem! Will that even work on him?"

"What about snapping it?"

"I don't know if I can-"

Steven felt sick to his stomach. He blocked out the rest of the conversation by screaming at the top of his lungs. The boy yelled and fought against the gems, desperately trying to find a way out. He was not going back into his gem. He wasn't going to let them try either! He just needed to bubble away from them. Or form his shield!

Why couldn't he form his shield right now?! He needed save himself from them! He needed to get away! Shield, shield, shield! Nothing showed up though. His gem didn't even glow. What kind of a warrior was he? What kind of a warrior even had a shield for a weapon? It was useless. He was useless. He'd never be a real gem. He'd always be part-human. Part useless was more like it.

Tears sprung up in his eyes. The boy tried to wipe the away, but his hands were still stuck. The fusion was still holding him in place. Amethyst was still holding him in place. She really was just pretending the entire time, wasn't she? If she really liked him, she wouldn't want to keep him trapped in his gem, or do something even worse than that.

She was fused with the pearl though. What if Amethyst was fighting to get out of the fusion but she wouldn't let her. Amethyst needed some way to get out of it. If only he had a gem destabilizer on him! He could turn down the setting so that they'd only unfuse, rather than poof. He had to find something! Some way to make their fusion unstable!

"I thought we were f-friends!" He cried.

"-we're trying to make this not hurt Steven." The sapphire said.

"A-Amethyst! I k-know you're there!"

His foot continued to freeze, and the fusion kept holding his upper half in place. When he looked up, he saw she had her eyes shut tight. She was doing her best to ignore him, but he still desperately tried to get the attention of the fusion. Amethyst needed to listen to him! He knew it was working, it just had to be working!

"I-I don't want to g-go back! It's scary!"

"-how about we-"

"-no that-"

The pressure on his shoulders grew stronger, while his hands were suddenly let free. Just as quickly, the fusion grabbed them again. She was starting to loose control of her form, what he said was working.

"T-this isn't like y-you!"

"-maybe we could-"

"Don't you remember the fun we had? The doughnuts we got? How we had to abandon them by the railroad tacks?"

"Ruby, cover his mouth."

"But-"

"A-and you showed me where you c-came from! Even though y-you sometimes feel b-bad a-about it!"

"Just so he stops talking."

The gem placed a hand over his mouth. The silence let her regain some focus again. But Steven was not going to give up. If he didn't get Amethyst back, nothing would be stopping them from hurting him again. He was sick and tired of having bad things happen to him! He wasn't going back into his gem ever again!

"ARAGH! HE LICKED MY HAND! THAT LITTLE-"

The ruby's temper exploded, and she let go of his mouth. The sapphire let go of his leg, trying to calm down her partner. It gave Steven the time to say one last thing.

"Y-you have t-to remember! IT ALL JUST HAPPENED!"

Something wet landed on his face. Steven blinked away his own tears, only to see that the fusion was crying as well. The arms holding on to his hands loosened as she opened her mouth to speak.

"S-Steven I-"

A sharp gasp ended what she was going to say. The fusion glowed brilliantly before a painful smacking sound was heard. The two gems clumsily separated from each other. Amethyst landed on the ruby, while the pearl, with her long legs, tripped and brought down the sapphire. The four gems were all tangled up in each other. Surprised, disoriented, and drained.

It gave Steven a chance to move. A wave of energy suddenly overtook him. Before any of the gems could begin to get up, the boy had gotten on the floor and crawled underneath his bed. He heard their confused words, but in his ears, they all blended into a mess of garbled speech. Pulling away the pillow hiding his secret exit, Steven slipped through the hole.

The confusing sensation of falling and the blood rushing to his head overtook Steven, but it left as quickly as it had come. A painful, pulsing sensation began to push through his leg. But he paid it no mind. Escape was the only thing that he could focus on right now. Steven wiped away the tears clouding his vision. Then the gem clapped his hands, loudly commanding;

"I want a door leading outside!"

Said door appeared. He stepped through, and found himself just outside of the gem's fortress. In the outside world, it was almost dark. The last few streaks of pink were giving away to bruised purples and blues before turning into night. Steven debated taking the warp pad, but he knew that there was no where for him to go. He was unfamiliar with all the locations on Earth.

"Let. Me. Out!"

Steven looked down at the tiny voice that had come from his cast. He was confused for a moment, but then remembered.

"Lapis!"

"Let. Me. Out!"

Steven pulled the mirror out of his cast. He quickly showed her the area around them, descending the hill as he did so.

"Where do I go?!"

The mirror wasted no time in responding.

"Water!"

The moment he hit the sand, Steven heard the door to the gem's base open. He frantically limped towards the water, his feet sinking into the sand. Suddenly, his broken leg gave away beneath him, and he fell to the ground. Steven bit the handle of the mirror and half-crawled, half-dragged his way closer to the water.

Steven had repeated the instructions on how to get Lapis out countless times as he fantasized finally escaping. This did nothing to prepare him for the real thing His fingers were slick with sweat, and he fumbled to grab the gem imbedded within the mirror. He was so focused on getting the gem out, that he did not notice that the waves were growing closer to him. Tiny hands formed in the water, stretching out to reach him before the waves pulled back again.

Unfortunately, he also didn't realize that the Crystal Gems had caught up to him until it was too late. Four separate weapons were pointed in his direction. Just as soon as this had happened, the pearl's spear wavered slightly. Amethyst's whip was only held half-heartedly. All of them were panting, still trying to catch their breath after the chase. Pearl then noticed what Steven was holding.

"How did he get that mirror?!" She exclaimed. "It thought it was in my ro-"

Right away, Pearl turned to look at Amethyst. She gave a guilty grin, answering her unspoken question.

"He was homesick, and it's supposed to show Home World stuff right? I figured he could use it."

"So, he wasn't really talking to himself?" Ruby wondered, rubbing her gem.

"Yes." Pearl sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Steven, I'll be needing that mirror back now."

Steven instantly pulled the mirror to his chest.

"Never!"

"C'mon Steven, it's just a mirror." Amethyst added, trying to reach out for it.

"You can't have her!"

The boy's eyes grew as wide as saucers after saying so. He covered his mouth in shock. Obliviously, he had not been meaning to say what he did. A sudden understanding washed over all of them. The mirror was gem-powered. All gem-powered objects had non-sentient gems within them. They couldn't form physical bodies or have thoughts. They were too weak for that. But if a powerful or corrupted gem had found their way into an object...

"Her?" Ruby slowly asked.

Pearl laughed nervously.

"Steven, is the gem in the mirror... Talking to you?"

_"Her **name**_ is _**LAPIS LAZULI!**_ And she's not in here any more!"

Just as he said so, Steven victoriously held the gem up into the air. They all gasped. None of them had even realized that he had been working away at the mirror the entire time. The gem was free from the mirror now. Who knew what kind of power Steven had just unleashed on the planet?!

The tear-drop shaped stone started to hover on it's own, floating closer towards the water. It glowed a blinding white. The gems all had to shield their faces as she began to reform. The Pearl happened to look down at the ground as she did so, and she saw that the water was grabbing at Steven's ankles. Parts of it were turning into tiny hands. Just like a series of gem shards would.

"STEVEN!"

Amethyst saw at the same time she did. They looked at each other and then gave a nod. Without a second thought, Amethyst used her whip to pull Steven backwards and away from the water. Steven dropped the mirror mid-flight. A series of hands crashed down upon the mirror and shattered it into pieces. Pearl caught Steven, stopping any fall before it happened.

"Let go of him."

All eyes were drawn to the speaker. A gem with blue skin stared them down. Blue was the predominant colour she had on her. The gem wore a darker blue dress, with a skirt that reached down to her knees. It rustled eerily, like a living thing in the unnatural breeze that stirred around her. But the only thing on her that wasn't blue were the gem's eyes. They were a milky white, and completely pupiless. They reflected the night around them.

Even as she floated above the water, the gem did not seem like one that had been cracked. Her physical form was strong-looking, it hadn't warped in the slightest. No side effects had taken over the rest of her either. Only the strongest of gems could keep strong, even with their gem cracked.

So this was Lapis Lazuli...

"LET GO OF HIM!"

Lapis Lazuli rose her arm, and the ocean followed with it. The water writhed and twisted around like a snake, growing fingers and turning into a hand. The drips of water that fell off it turned into limbs as well, before crawling back into the mass of water. The hand stretched above the gem's heads, threatening to crash down and sweep them all out to sea.

Amethyst instantly got rid of the whip Steven had been wrapped up in. She pulled another one out of her gem, and kept it to her side. Pearl followed suit, carefully letting go of the boy. The hand retreated slightly, but still loomed close by, waiting to lash out at them if commanded to.

Steven looked back at them, Amethyst in particular. His eyes were red, and Pearl saw that his face was still puffy and gleaming with tears. Steven's steps were tiny and slow. Once or twice, he stumbled across the sand before catching his balance. The boy didn't look like he was dangerous, or any kind of threat to them. He wasn't Rose in disguise or a super-weapon waiting to be used. He just looked like a boy who wanted to go home.

And they had wanted to leave him trapped in a bubble for the rest of eternity.

When he reached Lapis, Steven tripped again. He was having trouble walking. It felt like the Earth's gravity had suddenly grown stronger, and the world was blurring around him. Before he could get a face-full of sand, she caught him, and helped him back up to his feet. Steven gave her a weak smile, which she returned. Lapis then turned to the other gems, her smile gone.

"We're leaving." She hissed. "And don't even think about trying to stop us."

The gem turned to face the water. She summoned a sphere of water, and surrounded Steven with it. The stinging, salty chill of the ocean was enough to wake Steven up from his drowsy state again. He couldn't breathe! Lapis was walking closer to the waves. Steven shut out his distorted view of the world. The gem started to struggle, trying to get out of the water.

Lapis saw that he was struggling, and she instantly let go of him. Steven fell to the ground, coughing and spitting out salt water. He rubbed the stinging salt out of his eyes, trying to ignore the burn.

"Steven! Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I-I couldn't breathe." He choked.

"Breathe?" She asked.

"H-humans need air to breathe."

"You're a _human?!"_

Steven coughed out more water, and shook his head. He peeled back his shirt, showing her his gem.

"N-no! I'm only half!"

"You lied to me! You're just another one of _them!"_

She pointed a hand at the Crystal Gems. The hand made of water followed the action, causing all of the gems to take up fighting stances.

"No I'm not! This place will never be my home!"

"How do I know you're not lying about that too?"

"I-"

Steven tried to reach out for Lapis, but the gem slapped away his hand.

"Get away from me."

The hand of water suddenly came down squarely upon Steven. He only had time to gasp in pain before he was pulled under the water once again. He was tossed up against the waves and thrown against the rocks. Steven felt his nose bend and snap. The smell and taste of blood washed across his face and got into his mouth.

He felt himself being pulled away from the rocks again, and swept back under the water. Steven struggled to fight against the currents swirling around him. He broke through the surface of the water, still blinded by salt and pain. Steven promised to himself that he wouldn't retreat back into his gem.

That was all be could do before a horribly familiar feeling of darkness took over his mind.


	11. Ocean Gem

Greg's phone alarm rang. The man dismissed it with a flick of his finger. He was already up, dressed, and ready for another day... At four in the morning. Today was the second day of summer. Which meant that another flow of people needing to get their car washed would come in. Yesterday, he had actually had five people show up! Five! It was an all-new record for the car wash. It seemed that the summer mindset was persuading people to go out and do summer things! Like getting their car washed.

Business booming meant that he wasn't going to have much time for his other hobbies. He had to be up and ready for when the rush came in that day. Of course, that might not be for another five or so hours, but he still had to be ready. Mentally prepare himself for all the cars he would have to wash. He'd come up with slogans and great bargains on car wax, and everything that a car owner might need!

It was still dark though. He couldn't get his breakfast and then open early either. No place was open at that time. The only twenty-four hour grocery store had been in Ocean Town. At least, what little remained of it. But even he didn't dare take the treacherous journey to the hellscape that was Ocean Town. Just thinking about it made him shudder.

Greg realized that he could use all the spare time he had on his current hobby: Beach combing. Ronaldo had gotten him into it a while back. While the kid preferred to search for weird things in the sand, Greg just looked for anything of interest or value. Once he found a whole beer bottle, that had turned entirely into beach glass! It got him twenty bucks at the local pawn shop! There was occasionally change buried within the sand as well. Especially underneath the boardwalk near Fun Land.

Readying his beach combing equipment, the man locked up his van and headed towards the beach. It may as well have been night time as he walked down the deserted streets of Beach City. It was still dark out, and the stars stuck brightly in the sky. Even the seagulls, ever the noisy, had settled down for the night. The only sound was the ever-present crashing of the waves against the land.

When he reached the sand, Greg slipped off his shoes. The man wriggled his toes in the cool sand before continuing onwards. His puppy metal-detector gave the occasional quiet yip, but he had learned the hard way that it was just the town's water system. Luckily Mayor Dewy had been willing to drop the fines once he promised to give him free promotion and car washes for the rest of eternity.

Greg scanned the beach in a section that he had not been to before. He was getting closer and closer to where the fence had once been. No one knew what lay on the other side of the fence that had been there before. Just out of nowhere, it was taken down for some reason. No one knew whether it was private property or filled with quicksand when the tide went out, they just ignored it. Kinda' like him in a way.

The metal-detector remained silent. It was strange, as Greg would have expected that some of the posts from the fence might still be buried in the ground. He only hesitated a moment before stepping across the invisible boundary line. Greg looked back at the farther away town. There was still no sign of life from it. No one knew that he was here.

The tide was low, leaving a smooth, wet, sand pit across the beach. Which didn't quite make sense to Greg. The tide was supposed to be high right now. Why was the water so strangely low in this area? The sand was still wet beneath his feet. Every step he took left a little hollow of water in it's place. Greg treaded more carefully here. This was the perfect condition for quicksand to form in. It was always less sand than water. And it was the pressure from struggling that trapped people and left them to their doom.

There was no need to remind himself that no one knew he was here. No one had ever cared about his whereabouts. He always had to watch his back, especially when he was always on his own. But that was what being the town weirdo did to a person. It made people treat you just as strangely. The point being, staying out alone on the beach could be dangerous.

Despite what he already knew about the potential dangers of the beach, Greg strolled farther out, getting closer to the water. Here his feet began to sink fully into the sand. It became more difficult to take each step, as the suction kept pulling against him. It wasn't too hard for him to walk though. And besides, the closer he got to the water, the more things there were on the beach.

It looked like a storm had passed through the place. Countless pebbles were scattered everywhere. They glinted deceptively at him, and Greg felt tempted to pick some of them up. But he knew better than to try. There was never anything of value mixed in with the rainbow of tiny stones. By the water's edge, different types of seaweed rested in the sand, and there were bits of drift wood tangled within them. There was also an alarming number of tiny fish and jelly fish that had washed up on the beach. Jellyfish were nothing new though, and they were all the harmless kind. The fish on the other hand, those were strange. They only washed up when a storm had passed through. Nothing of the sort had happened though. What was going on with this beach?

Greg came to some rocks, which he steered around. Nothing would prepare him for what he found on the other side of them. There was a boy washed up face-first on the beach! The man dropped all of his things and ran towards the boy. Greg turned him over and instantly recognized the boy. He had broken his leg, and Vidalia had asked him to set it, no questions asked. Greg only knew how to make a cast for a broken leg for a stunt he had done during one of his concerts.

Why they needed him and how he had broken his leg didn't matter though. What did matter was that he was laying on the beach, unconscious and alone. The sand around him was stained a chilling crimson colour. Greg checked for a pulse. The boy's skin was still cold, and wet, but he could still sense a slight throbbing. His breathing looked really bad though. It was laboured, and too short to be normal.

"Ohmygod! What do I do?! Who do I call?!"

Panic started to overtake his mind. This kid needed medical attention! But what if they didn't come on time?! He'd have to carry him towards the town before anyone could take him to the hospital! Wait! He had training for this! The memory was slightly rusty, but Greg was certain he still remembered how to revive someone with water in their lungs.

Keeping the boy flat on his back, the man opened his mouth slightly. Then, he place his hands right underneath his stomach. Oh boy...

"Please don't die!"

Taking a deep breath, he started the mouth-to-mouth process. Filling the boy's lungs with air, he then pressed down underneath his ribs. Greg took another breath.

"Please don't die!"

Greg repeated it a few more times before he got any result. The boy started to cough, a good sign. Then he spat up one of the tiny fish. After an agonizing pause, the boy let out a groan.

"W-what?"

"Are you ok?!" Greg frantically interrupted. "What happened to you?"

"L-Lapis." He choked. "I-I thought we w-were f-friends."

"Hang on kiddo. Nine-one-one will be here soon."

Whipping out his cell phone, Greg dialed the dispatcher.

"C'mon, c'mon! Pick up"

_"You've reached Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland's office. We can't take your call right now because we're currently on a vacation in Gravity F-"_

The recorded message stopped before the man could even finish the sentence. Greg threw his cell phone down to the ground in frustration.

"What kind of a dispatcher does this town have?!"

The boy let out another groan of pain, drawing Greg's attention back to him. The man shook the boy's shoulders again, in an attempt to keep him conscious.

"Don't worry kid, I'll get some help!"

Against the protest of his back, Greg lifted the boy up into his arms. Greg wobbled in place, his feet sticking even more into the sand. He caught his balance, and started the long walk back to the dry land. The sun was starting to peek out on the horizon now, making a thin band of orange against the water.

Greg knew that no one in town out listen to him if he asked for help. The only choice he had was to take the boy back to his van. He unlocked it, and then set the boy down on his mattress. For a moment, he lamented over the fact that he had left his metal-detector on the beach, but that feeling left quickly. He had more important things to be worrying about.

A quick search through his an allowed the man to find a few towels. He dried the boy off as best he could with his clothes still on. The man bent over to start toweling off the boy's curly, black hair. That was when he dazedly opened his eyes, a haze of confusion clouding them. For a moment, Greg was stricken with a sense of familiarity. He didn't know why that was though.

"W-what're y-you doing?" He asked.

"Drying off your hair. It's soaked!"

Greg stopped for a moment. The kid couldn't stay in his wet clothing, it wasn't healthy. Now, didn't he have some old clothes somewhere in his van? Greg did a short scan of the back of his van. He found a worn-out pair of shorts that could fit him, and a t-shirt from his band days. But that was an extra, extra large. It wouldn't fit the kid. It was then that his eyes rested upon the framed Mr. Universe t-shirt on the van wall. Well, desperate times called for desperate measures. He pulled it off the wall and popped the still-new shirt out of the frame.

"Here, take off your wet stuff and put these on."

The boy looked too daze to argue with him. Greg turned around as he got changed. He didn't look until the boy told him that he was dressed.

"How're you doing?" Greg asked.

"I feel like..." A nauseous look crossed his face. "Sick."

"Wait! Not in the van!"

Luckily, there was a bucket that had conveniently left out from the previous day's washing. He placed it in the boy's lap just before he could empty his stomach contents all over his van. Greg patted the boy's back until he had stopped retching

"Do you need some water?"

Right away, he realized that the question was bad taste. The kid did not seem to mind. If he did, he was too injured to do anything about it. He feebly nodded, gripping the edges of the bucket as he did so. Greg got him a cup of water from the car wash bathroom. A little more colour returned to his face after he had taken a few sips of water. Greg emptied out the bucket in the meantime.

"So, do you have a name?"

The boy seemed a little hesitant to speak up at first.

"I'm Steven."

"Well Steven, I'm Greg. But you can call me Mister Universe."

Greg held out a hand to the boy. Steven gave him a strange look, as if he didn't understand what his hand was there for. Greg figured that Steven just thought shaking hands with him would be weird. Or contagious, like a lot of people seemed to think. For a moment, Greg wondered if the kid was still in shock from his near-death experience. He was too quiet and calm for someone who had nearly drowned.

"You hungry at all?"

Steven nodded.

"I don't have much." Greg mused. "There are a few granola bars here, some instant ramen, and chips..."

"I like chips."

"Chips it is then!"

Greg grabbed the bad of chips and handed it to the boy. It was a medium-sized package of regular flavour. Even though the air in Beach City was always salty, he still had a craving for regular chips. Greg had no idea why that could be. It was just one of those weird food cravings that couldn't be explained. Steven started to eat, looking around the van as he did so.

Just then, the sound of people was heard. Greg could hear angry voices and screams. Then, the familiar chant of the mayor's election slogan began. Getting out of the van, Greg saw the mayor's van approaching, and he was followed by an angry mob of people.

"Greg Universe!" Mayor Dewy called. "Come out with your hands up!"

"I'm already out here." He said. "What's going on?"

"I'm only going to say this one more time: Put your hands up! You have the right to remain silent!"

Greg stuck his hands in the air, not sure what was going on.

"I still really don't get what's going on."

The mayor got out of his van, megaphone in hand. The angry mob remained by the truck, but the mayor walked towards him. They all cheered as the mayor strode up to Greg, his normally pink face even more flushed than usual.

"Take a look at the ocean!"

Greg looked over at the beach. He couldn't quiet believe his eyes for a moment. It just didn't make sense. But somehow, all of the water was gone. How could that even be possible?! Water didn't just up and vanish like that! The mayor and citizens were much less shocked than Greg on the matter

"That's right. Now it's just a desert! No one wants to take a vacation to Desert City!" He sobbed. "We're going to loose all of our summer business!"

"What does this have to do with me?"

The mayor immediately stopped crying.

"I've been mayor of this own long enough to know that this has something to do with you."

"Wait, what?!"

The mayor glanced at the crowd before leaning towards Greg.

"Sorry Greg, but I need a scapegoat. Otherwise the citizens will all turn on me instead. Besides, no one likes you, so no one gets hurt!" The mayor raised his voice again. "And that's exactly what I, the very tough and heroic mayor, will do to you if the ocean doesn't get back here!"

The angry mob behind him cheered.

"Look, I can't just bring back-"

"TIP THE VAN!"

The crowd rushed forwards, eager to knock over his van. But before they could tip it over, Steven climbed out of the van.

"Stop!"

All of them stopped, curiously looking at Steven. The boy took a deep breath, looking over at Greg before speaking.

"It's not Mister Universe's fault!"

"Then who's is it?!" Someone challenged.

"Mine! I made the ocean go away, and I'll get it back!"

"How do you plan on-"

The mob was suddenly silenced, only a few gasps escaping them. The citizens all parted as the Crystal Gems arrived, not wanting to get in the way of the dangerous, magical, ladies. Steven's stomach instantly plummeted when he saw them. None of the gems looked in his direction, but he knew they had seen him there

"We'll be getting back the ocean together." The pearl declared. "Steven, let's go."

Steven looked at Mr. Universe, and then back at the gems. He had to go back now. They were going to make him find Lapis, and then they were both going to be prisoners again. He was going to be stuck on this miserable planet forever! They wanted to bubble him, and then he would truly be in trouble.

Hanging his head in defeat, he slowly walked towards the gems. His cast had been mostly torn off by the water. The stuff it was made of wasn't supposed to get as wet as it had been. His leg seemed to be fine for the most part though. The dead weight that had plagued him for so long didn't seem to be a problem anymore.

"Wait!"

They all turned around to look at Mr. Universe.

"I'm coming as well." He declared. "There's no way you guys can walk until you find the ocean."

"Oh please." The pearl scoffed. "We're gems, we can handle a little walking."

"But he can't." Greg said, pointing to Steven. "I'll drive you guys to wherever you need to go."

The Crystal Gems all looked at each other, silently debating what they should say. Eventually, the pearl nodded. The group all piled into his van. Steven found himself squished between the ruby and the sapphire. Amethyst sat in the front seat with Greg, while the pearl remained outside of the van. She was riding on Lion. (Rosie was a _stupid_ name for a lion! Especially a male one!)

Once they were all settled, the man started to drive towards the beach. Steven wasn't able to see much outside with his view so obscured by the van's multiple occupants. But what he could make out was not pretty. The ocean floor was a mixture of muddy browns and grey. The van stirred up clouds of dust as they went, adding to the eerie feeling of desertion.

Steven shuddered slightly. It was almost like the kindergarten... Surreal and deserted. Nothing like the rest of the Earth. This planet's ocean was supposed to be filled with life. So much so that not everything in it had been discovered yet. How was it that one gem had managed to drain all the life away from it? This was wrong. All of this was wrong.

Steven's discomfort would only grow. One side of him was freezing, while the other was frying. Neither gem he was sitting between looked at him or said anything. It didn't help that just hours before, they had been arguing over the best way to hurt him enough so that he'd go back to his gem. But he wasn't going to retreat back there, no matter how much his body hurt. Even though he felt like one gigantic bruise from head-to-toe, and desperately needed some sleep! He wouldn't let himself be poofed. No again. Not after all that he had forced his gem through already.

As luck would have it, Steven was not the only person who was made uncomfortable by the gems. Greg remembered Amethyst as Vidalia's friend, after she had reminded him of a few times back when he was a teenager. The problem was that she kept reminding him about all the things he had done as a teenager. Which involved quite a few embarrassing stories that he didn't want to be reminded about.

Finally, he grabbed a random CD and shoved it into the CD player.

"This was one of Vidalia's favourites!" He blurted, for lack of something better to say.

Amethyst only lasted ten verses into the song. The radical beats and excellent guitar shredding were too much for the gem to handle. She covered her ear and shook her head.

"No! Make it stop!"

To everyone's surprise, she jumped out of the car window, and onto Lion and the pearl. They both helped in surprise, not expecting the sudden hitchhiker. After some arguing and yelling, the pearl took the front seat in the van while Amethyst rode on Lion. At least it got her to be quiet. Steven still had to deal with the quietly feuding gems between him.

The pearl finally seemed to take pity on him.

"Steven, I think you should sit in the front."

The boy was all too happy to climb into the front of the car. Meanwhile, Ruby and Sapphire helped Pearl into the back of the car. By chance, Pearl happened to look down at Sapphire's palm as she did so. Pearl gasped when she saw her gem.

"Sapphire! What happened to your gem?"

Sapphire remained collected despite her outburst. She held up her gem, displaying the yellow-green lines creeping through and around her gem.

"I'm fine."

"We've been like that since the warp pad incident." Ruby said, holding up her gem.

"There's nothing wrong with yours."

"What?!"

Sapphire grabbed her partner's hand, inspecting every inch of it. There was no trace of the yellow patterns they had both received from destroying the warp pad. They had both left them hidden from the other gems, not wanting them to freak out over the strength of the team and their well-being.

It may have been painful, but they were already in a weak spot as it was. Any more distractions could cause problems. Sapphire knew that something about these scars was causing her and Ruby to be at odd ends with each other, but there was nothing that they could do about it.

"Were you destabilized?" A quiet voice asked.

The trio all turned to look at Steven. He shifted uncomfortably under their stares, but continued nevertheless.

"A modern weapon we have now can force you back to your gem without a fight. No matter how strong you are. If you get hit with a weak destabilizer, it'll leave a scar like that."

"We only broke this weird warp pad." Ruby said.

"The energy from warps is similar."

"But how did you heal yourself?" Pearl wondered. "What's happened to your gem lately?"

"Well, I tried to punch the ocean, I tried to burn the ocean, I tried to melt the ocean. And... Steven licked my hand."

Instantly, their attention was focused back on Steven.

"Of course!" Pearl said. "He must have Rose's healing powers! Just... In his spit instead."

"How do we know it's in his spit?" Ruby asked.

"Simple." Pearl said. "Steven, could you try healing Sapphire's gem?"

The boy looked at them like they were crazy.

"No! You guys tried to bubble me! You destroyed my only way to get home!"

He did bring up a valid point there.

"Could you try healing something small then? Do you have a scar or something you could try it on?"

He reluctantly did as he was asked. Licking his thumb, Steven pressed it against a tiny scar he had on his arm. To everyone's amazement. It vanished. Pearl gave an excited squeal, grabbing onto Steven's shoulders.

"You have healing powers!"

Steven wearily smiled. If the circumstances had been different, he might have been excited to discover that he had unlocked even more of his powers. Instead of that, he simply felt tired. He just wanted all of this to be over already. He needed some time to sit and think things out.

"Uh, I don't want to interrupt." Mr. Universe said. "But I think we found the ocean."

All of the gems immediately fought to look outside. A gigantic, cylindrical column twisted and turned above them. It was a bright, glowing blue. It only grew larger as they approached the pillar of water that was the ocean. As they grew closer, thing became visible in the water. All sorts of different sea creatures swam around in the water, going about their lives as if nothing was wrong.

"Whoa..."

"This'll make a great album cover." The man whispered.

The van stopped, and all of them minus Greg got out of it. The man knew better than to interfere with whatever was going on between these magical space-ladies and Steven. He couldn't do anything to help, and it would just be better if he didn't become a liability for the group. Greg started to head back towards Beach City, leaving the gems alone with the ocean

Steven walked ahead of the gems. With each step he took across the ocean floor, a cloud of dust and sand rose up. He limped towards the tower of water. He gradually tilted his head upwards as he did so, searching for where the top of the tower was. It seemed to stretch on endlessly into the clouds. The surface of the water was clear and calm, almost solid looking. It was like a window that let one see inside the lives of the sea creatures that swam around.

Then, the surface of the water began to ripple. The creatures inside of the water were helplessly tossed around by the current. A watery version of Lapis' face emerged from the pillar, staring all of them down.

"Go away." She commanded.

The recent memory of being swept up by the ocean crossed his mind, but Steven held his resolve.

"No. I'm not leaving until we talk."

The face remained impassive. More figures began to emerge from the pillar. Mirror-matches of the Crystal Gems and Steven formed. They all pulled out their weapons and glared at the group. Just like the real Crystal Gems had done. Steven held his ground, still staring unflinchingly at Lapis' head.

"I don't want to fight you." She said.

"I don't want to fight either." Steven countered.

"Leave."

The water version of himself raised his hand. A floating ball of water materialized in his palm. Steam curled off of it, as the water began to boil.

"Don't do it."

Slowly, the mirror-match started to pull his arm back, preparing to throw the ball at him. Steven took a step towards the tower, continuing his stare-down with the face. The water within the pillar swirled around more violently, twisting into a whirlpool. She was doing everything in her power to threaten him, but Steven was not going to stand for any of it.

"I don't want to fight." He repeated. "All I want to do is talk."

"You lied to me."

"I didn't mean to hide anything from you! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone! Every time I do tell people, the just freak out, and they're mean to me." The boy pressed a hand to his gem. "They make me feel like I'm nothing, like I shouldn't exist."

A hand emerged from the water, and it pointed at the Crystal Gems.

"How do I know you're not allies with _them?"_

"I'm not!" Steven insisted. "Home World is my home too! How could I make up what the planet's like right now? How could I make up a big dumb lie about everything on Home World now. It doesn't make sense!"

"Prove it."

"How do I do that?"

"If you really care about Home World, you'll help me fight them."

The hand made of water suddenly grabbed him by the wrist. It picked him up, and dragged Steven uncomfortably close to her face. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Amethyst jump towards him before the pearl pulled her back.

"STEVEN!"

"Unhand him!" The pearl yelled.

Another hand materialized, forcing Steven to stare into her eyes.

"Steven, listen. Fight against them with me."

"W-what?"

"Those three knew I was in there." She hissed. "And they didn't do anything!"

"B-but-"

"Don't you know anything Steven?! They don't _really_ care about other Gems. All they care about is the Earth! But I never believed in this place... This is our chance to take revenge!"

"That's a lie!" Amethyst yelled.

"Don't listen to them." Lapis said.

"She'll hurt innocent people!"

"They don't matter."

"Steven please!"

Steven was torn, looking between the two sides as they fought over him. The water-hands' grip on him became suffocating. She was gradually squeezing the life out of him as he was brought closer and closer to the face.

"I-I-"

"Come on! Just say _yes."_

"NO!"

A sudden surge of power erased the feeling of helplessness. Before Steven knew what he was doing, he had summoned his shield. The gem threw his shield, and it sliced between the two hands. Steven was dropped to the ground, and the water started to ripple again. Then, all of the water figures fell apart.

Steven picked himself up off the ground, catching his shield as it flew back in his direction. The weapon vanished back to where it had come from in a burst of pink light. The gems behind him gasped, but Steven didn't look back at him. Instead, the boy walked the rest of the short distance to the tower, until he was face-to-face with the surface of it.

"I'm not fighting anyone!" Steven yelled. "I'm not here to pick a side! I just want to _talk!_ Why is it that no one ever wants to _talk_ about things?! You guys just keep going and doing violent things without thinking, or just sitting down to discuss instead of hurting each other! Fighting doesn't solve anything! It just causes more problems. And people get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt..."

None of the gems said anything. Steven decided to continue speaking.

"I mean, we fought an entire war over one planet. And the war wasn't even about here! It was about the way Home World worked, and how we treated others! The Earth has nothing to do with who or what I am! It's just... It's just something that got caught in the middle. The people here are just trying to survive. But how are they supposed to do that when the entire ocean is gone?!"

A new hand formed from the water. This one didn't attack. It lay flat on the ground. Steven looked up at the tower, and back at the Crystal Gems. Then, he stepped onto the palm of the hand.

"I'm going up."

The hand started to rise. Slowly at first, but then gradually gaining speed. Steven's ears popped, and the air around him began to turn cold. Steven closed his eyes, not wanting to think about the ground beneath him, and how very high up in the sky he now was. A heavier pressure started to weigh against him as the altitude continued to climb. It made him feel sluggish and confused.

Just as he thought that he could go no higher before reaching space, the ride upwards stopped. Steven opened his eyes and got to his feet. He may have not been in space, but it certainly did look like it. All around him, he could see the stars in all of their multi-coloured brilliance. The top of the tower was glassy, but solid. When he stepped, the surface rippled, as if it were a shallow puddle.

Then, Steven heard the first sniffle. He turned around to face the source of the noise. It was Lapis. She had her back to him, leaving her cracked gem exposed. She was sitting on the ground, her knees and arms shielding her face from the world. Steven took a cautious step closer to her.

"Lapis?"

"S-Steven, I'm sorry." She whispered. "S-so, so sorry."

"For nearly drowning me? Or the whole stealing-the-ocean thing?"

"All of it. I-I never meant to..."

Steven sat down next to the gem.

"Being in the mirror must've been awful."

"I-it was." She said. "I-I don't even feel like the same person anymore. I'm not who I used to be."

"Staying locked up all the time can do that to a person." He quietly said.

The gem let out a long, tired sigh. She raised her head up to look at the stars with haunted eyes.

"I just want to go home."

"But why are you building this crazy water tower?"

"I'm only using the ocean because my gem is cracked. If I just stretch it far enough..." She sighed again, and hung her head. "This is never going to work."

"Wait! I have healing powers! I can fix your gem!"

"You do?"

"I know right?" He grinned. "I found out on the way here!"

"Oh uh, what should I do?"

"This may be a little weird..."

Steven licked his hand. Then he placed his palm against Lapis' gem. She shuddered in disgust. Then, her gem started to glow. The cracks in it sealed back together. A pair of wings made from water sprouted from her gem. Flapping them, Lapis got back up to her feet. For the first time in thousands of years, she was finally able to smile.

"Thank-you Steven!"

Lapis looked like she was going to take off for a moment, but she stopped herself. Steven knew what she was going to ask even before she said it.

"I'll be fine for now." He promised. "Just, try to raise the alarm as soon as possible once you get back."

"Right." She nodded. "Well uh, bye."

She took off into the air with a single leap. Steven watched as Lapis flew off towards a distant cluster of stars until she was little more than a speck in the sky. Then, the not-so solid ground beneath him began to shake. The tower of water began to crumble, and Steven was sent falling through the air. Everything began to rush before his eyes, and the pressure he was being put under began to lessen.

"Grab my hand!"

A pink and white blur flashed across his vision. Steven did as he was told, reaching out towards the figure that was free-falling with him. Pearl caught Steven's wrist, and pulled him on to the lion. They were transported safely to the ground. For the most part. They came to a sudden stop.

Steven was ready suffering from a head rush, and this caused him to go flying off of the lion's back. Luckily, Sapphire was there with the other gems to catch him. The gem had her arms outstretched, already prepared for what she had seen in the imminent future. Naturally, Steven landed in her arms, exactly as planned.

What none of them had been expecting was for Sapphire to pinch a nerve in his neck. Steven's eyes comically went wide for a moment, and then he poofed back to his gem. Sapphire, ever-omnipotent bubbled the gem and sent him back to the temple before the other three could attack her.

* * *

Deep inside of the temple, one of the rooms it up as a new gem appeared. This one surrounded in a blue bubble. As luck would have it, the new gem nudged another bubble close to it slightly. The small push was all she needed to use her built-up power to escape from the bubble. She had been waiting an eternity for this chance. And the pink one had pulled through. She was free... She could escape... She was sprouting extra arms and had a pincer for a mouth and tail... Her rational thought process was not faring so well either.

But she... Free... No more bubbles. The pink one had been close enough to knock her out of it this time. Feeling his presence was enough... Escape... Needed... Pink... The pink one. It was high though. She was short. Weak. Had to reach the pink. Jumping didn't work. No. A wave of intelligent thought washed over her. Oh come on! She was so close she could spit on it if she wanted to!

Spit... That was it. She spat in the direction of the bubble. It landed squarely on it, and dissolved the surface with a hiss. The centipeetle caught Steven's gem before it could hit the floor. She was careful to not get any of her acidic salvia on his gem as she picked it up with her pincers.

The corrupted gem triumphantly trotted throughout the temple, following the trails of the other gems, and the scent of fresh air. In no time, she had found outside. The centipeetle stepped onto the warp pad. It took a few tries to let her gem thoughts work the warp pad. It was hard when she wanted to run around and destroy things now that she was free. So much destruction... Havoc... Pain... Blood... She was hungry...

Still, the centipeetle successfully managed to warp away with the pink one in her jaws.

Escape was just _too_ easy!


	12. Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't specifically name what Sapphire's weapon is in this chapter. I don't want to interfere with the cannon of the show. (Even though I like the headcannon of her having brass knuckles.) Just know that it's a weapon.
> 
> There's not much dialogue in this chapter, and I fully admit to it being a boring one, which is why I updated two days in a row to forget about it. But, it's one of those necessary evils that we must all deal with. If dramatic things keep happening, this will turn into a soap opera with plot twists thrown out of nowhere. I promise things will actually be interesting in the next chapter. But for now, it's time for a little cooling off period.

"I-I can't believe you-"

"He just saved our butts and then you-"

"Sapphy-"

"-what were you thinking-"

"-I never agreed to this! I didn't want him to-"

Sapphire ignored the three voices. Instead, she continued to freeze Ruby in place as they yelled at her. Pearl and Amethyst were already stuck to a wall and unable to escape. Ruby however was flaming, and she refused to let a small amount of ice stop her from being angry. Just as she got her leg to stick in place, her arm thawed out, and when she tried to freeze the rest of her body, the gem turned it into water.

This was all taking place outside of the containment room used for the corrupted gems. Sapphire had successfully stopped Pearl and Amethyst before they could break into the area. And it looked like Ruby was on their side now. All three of them were trying to get to Steven's gem so that they could take him out of the bubble. But she knew that this would happen the moment they arrived back at the temple. She knew a lot of things after all.

"Steven needs to stay bubbled." She said.

"He does not!" Pearl yelled back.

"He's just scared and mad." Amethyst added. "If you stopped trying to hurt him and got to know each other-"

Turning to face the immobilized gems, Sapphire shook her head.

"Amethyst, Pearl. Ruby and I need to talk about this alone. So I'm freezing over your heads."

Neither of them had time to react. Sapphire froze the gem's faces, rendering them speechless. Both of them were caught with comical expressions stuck on their faces. Pearl's mouth was open, and she was preparing to yell at her, while Amethyst was half-way to hacking up a loogie to spit on her hair. Now the two could only move their eyes slightly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sapphire saw Ruby pull out her weapon. Sapphire subtly did the same, keeping it closely hidden in the folds of her dress. She had the advantage in this fight. She could see all of the move Ruby might make just moments before she did them. She knew how to counter and dodge everything that was thrown at her. But wait... They hadn't started to fight in the present time yet, she still kept her back to Ruby, and she had not yet summoned her weapon.

In present time, Ruby grabbed her weapon, and Sapphire did the same. This time she did not wait before jumping over the leg sent out to trip her. Twirling in the air, she pulled out a duplicate weapon. She slashed downwards, blocking the punches that were sent her way. She launched an offensive attack of her own, pushing Ruby farther away from the room's entrance. Ruby pushed back, trying to gain more ground.

The gem snarled and sent a barrage of fire balls her way. They all missed her though, hitting the walls of the temple and melting the ice that had formed around the area. Sapphire twisted so that she could freeze Pearl and Amethyst back into place again, but an unexpected slap knocked away her hand. It fiercely stung, and she let out a hiss of pain.

For a moment, Ruby looked like she wanted to apologize for hitting her hand, but she place a stern face on again. The gem tried to make a run for the door, but Sapphire swiped out a hand, covering the floor in ice. Ruby slipped and fell, crashing into a wall. This only made her more enraged. She let out a roar, and the temperature of the room swelled. The ice she had made melted almost instantly.

Steam rose up and curled through the area, obscuring regular sight. She didn't need regular sight though. She swung her arm out to the left, and her weapon collided with something solid. Ruby, position revealed, now leaped out at her. But Ruby was blinded by the steam and by her anger. Each attack thrown her way became less accurate, even with the difference in temperatures.

Ruby was only getting started though. Her attacks started out controlled, but they became stronger as she wildly lashed out. She let her built-up anger take over and start to do the work for her. Sapphire on the other hand was growing tired. It was hard to keep up and predict things at the same time. She may have began with the advantage, but Ruby was steadily gaining ground on her.

At the worst possible time, Sapphire felt a wall behind her. She tried to back away, but something quickly wrapped around her. She realized that it was Amethyst's whip. That meant Ruby had melted the two of them free. How had she not thought about that before?! Using her weapon to help, she tore through the whip and then made a move to dodge out of the way. Another whip was sent spinning through the air.

Ruby heard the sound before she felt the strike. Amethyst's whip caught her just as Pearl came from behind and knocked her over with her spear. Sapphire was sent tumbling down. She hit the stone floor hard. The gem felt her dress tear, and her weapon vanish. She looked up to see the three gems standing there, with weapons pointed at her face.

Tears formed in her eye, and the gem hung her head in defeat.

"Pearl, you're the tallest." Ruby said. "You go find Steven."

Pearl nodded, and put away her weapon. Ruby shifted on her feet a little, still not comfortable with the situation. Just as Pearl was about to go into the room, Sapphire spoke up.

"Don't you get it?" She hissed. "If Steven gets out of that bubble, we'll all _die!"_

All three gems stopped, and they stared at Sapphire.

"I _see_ what happens. I _know_ all the different outcomes. But all of them end up with us **_dead!_** And if we willingly let him out, Ruby's death date moves _forwards!_ Every time!"

A grim silence set over the gems.

"Every... Time?" Ruby asked.

"Yes! There's only one outcome where that doesn't happen! And that's one in two million! I just wanted to keep us alive for as long as possible!" She sniffled. "I-I just wanted to protect you."

"There really is another war coming." Pearl murmured.

"Yes! And Steven's going to be the cause of it!"

"Steven? But how?"

Amethyst looked around the room before deciding that she needed to speak up.

"Uh, this may not be the best time to mention it, but Steven told me his teacher was like, super important on Home World. A lot of gems are supposed to be scared to even look at her."

"That's why he knew they'd be looking for him!" Pearl gasped. "He's important enough to start a war over!"

"What are our odds of surviving the war?"

It seemed like a horrible question to ask. But Amethyst couldn't help herself. She needed to know.

"I n-never looked that far." Sapphire whispered.

The gems went back to silence. Amethyst got rid of the whip that had been holding her teammate in place, while Ruby dismissed her tiny gauntlet as well. She helped her partner off the floor, and she smoothed out her hair and dress. Sapphire began to cry all over again. Ruby hugged the gem and patted her back in a soothing motion. Ruby felt her own eyes begin to water as well.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"I-I didn't want you two to w-worry."

"You mean, you didn't want to fuse on purpose?"

"N-no, no, no! We were arguing, and mad! I didn't want you to find out and be mad all over again."

"But-"

"Being Garnet is..." She took a shuddering breath. "Wonderful."

"She is." Ruby sighed. "But you know what's nice about being split up?"

Sapphire looked up in concern.

"What?"

"I get to look at you."

The gem snorted, and then burst out into peals of laughter.

"Be serious!" She giggled.

"There's my Laffy Sapphy." Ruby grinned.

Sapphire blushed at the nickname.

"Shhh! You're embarrassing me in front of them!"

The two laughed again. Ruby picked Sapphire up and kissed her. That was the last thing the two gems did before they started to glow white. Then, Garnet reappeared, still spinning in place. She was hugging herself and had a huge smile plastered across her face. When she remembered that her teammates were there, she stopped, blushing slightly.

"Garnet!"

"You're back!"

Amethyst and Pearl immediately hugged their teammate. She returned the gesture, a slight grin still on her face. It was great to be back.

* * *

The deserted island was busy and alive with the sounds of wildlife. Colourful birds sang their songs, exotic fish swam around in the water, and countless bugs hummed and chirped. The sky was a perfect blue, and it had large, puffy clouds dotted throughout the sky. The island was humid, but not uncomfortably so. The forest created plenty of shade, and there were many different sheltered areas they could nest in.

But first, water was needed. The centipeetle was still carrying the pink one in her jaws. She had gone through many pains to make sure that she did not salivate on him at all, not wanting to harm his gem. Her mouth ached from holding the pink one. She wanted to drop him. She couldn't though, not until she found some water.

The centipeetle trekked through the forest, putting some distance between herself and the warp pad. Her eyesight was not very good, but her other senses were. She picked up the sound of water not too long into their trip. The corrupted gem trotted along a path that had been worn into the ground by other animals. A game trail. That meant food. There was food on this island. Good.

Eventually, they broke through to a clearing. It was decently sized, and secluded. To one side, there was a cliff. There was water at the bottom, a pristine, shimmering blue. It morphed back and forth between brilliant hues of blue and green. The top of the island was visible from this clearing, and a waterfall flowed down from the top of it. The waterfall was calm and controlled though. It gently poured into a pool of water, which gave away into a river. The river wound it's way off of the cliff, pouring back into the sea.

To the far side of the clearing, and gentle slope began. The area there turned into a beach. It had pure, white sand, that sparkled in the sun. Just behind the waterfall, there was a large boulder, that curved inwards. The inside of the boulder was made of jagged crystals, that were growing out of the rock face. There was enough space inside of the boulder to block out the sky. And the waterfall kept it somewhat concealed from outside eyes.

The centipeetle decided then and there that this island was paradise. It was warm, an improvement from the cold she suffered before. There was food. Her mouth almost watered at the thought of food. She was hungry. But the pink one was in her mouth, so she made sure not to do so.

When would the pink one come back? She knew that he was weak. The other gems had made him weak, and now he had retreated to his gem. A sudden thought crossed her mind. What if the pink one didn't return? She would never get out of this if he didn't reform. She would be trapped in this form.

The corrupted gem bristled. No. The pink one would return. He had to. She hadn't taken him all this way for nothing! The pink one would be able to fix her, she was certain of that. But it could take some time for him to return. Until then, she had to guard the pink one, and make sure that nothing happened to him. She was on her own now. She needed to stay on guard because of this.

Her body was weak upon reformation. Tiny, shorter. Less legs as well. But she needed... What did she need? Remembering still hurt. She shut out any memories of her past. The pain was just too much for her to handle. Instead she focused on the present. She had escaped with the pink one, and now she had to wait for him to come back. He would know how to fix her.

But for now, she could wait. The glistening, blue water beckoned to her. The centipeetle dropped the gem by the edge of the pond. She grabbed some leaves and made a tiny nest around the pink one. The corrupted gem waded into the water, and let out a content growl. The water was refreshing. And she could finally bathe properly.

She splashed around in the water for a little while, playing and causing trouble. She chased away the little water bugs that skated across the surface, occasionally catching a few in the process. There were tiny fish in the pool as well. Not a good meal. But they served well enough as snacks. The fish tasted salty, and they practically melted in her mouth.

Well, everything put in her mouth tended to melt, but this was a different kind. The fish here were not so bad. The centipeetle ate them until she had her fill. After that, she rolled around in the pond a little while longer, and tried swimming against the current that the waterfall created. It wasn't very hard for her to swim against, even with her short legs.

Once her amusement with the water had faded, the corrupted gem exited the pond, and shook off the water clinging to her. Unfortunately, the pink one still had not left his gem. It lay in the place where she had left it, dormant. The centipeetle felt a small flicker of annoyance. When would he be back?

She wondered if a better nest would help the pink one return. Something softer might help. And maybe if he were sheltered and safe... She picked him up again, this time with the pincers on her tail. The gem then explored more of the area, looking for something soft to use as a nesting material.

The beach was the place she went to first. The sand beneath her feet was soft, but not what she was looking for. It would make a mess. She had no way to carry the sand. The corrupted gem wandered closer towards the water, sniffing the ground as she did so. Many colourful seashells were scattered across the beach, seaweed and driftwood mixed into the bunch.

The centipeetle turned over a rock. She snarled in alarm when something gripped onto the end of her snout with it's pincers. Instantly, she snapped her head back and tossed the attacker into her mouth. With a crunch of blood and bones, it was felled. It didn't taste half-bad either. She now knew that there was food hidden under the rocks as well. Not salty like the fish, but sweeter instead. And crunchy.

Continuing her journey down the beach, she found nothing of interest. At least until she cane across some new creatures, strolling around and swimming in the water. She bristled when one of the white-feathered creatures squawked and snapped it's beak at her. The corrupted gem launched a spray of acidic, green saliva upon the nearest creatures.

It started up a chorus of screaming and flapping wings attacking her. Some of the white creatures were blinded by her attack. She spat and hissed at any of the ones that came close to her. One of the animals swooped down from behind, nearly knocking the pink one out of her grip. In a flash, her jaws closed around the offender. It hit the side of her face with it's wings, but she held the animal until it had gone still.

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. For a moment, she was disgusted and horrified by the flavour. What was she doing?! She was attacking these creatures as if she were some kind of wild animal! That wasn't gem-like in the slightest! The centipeetle eased her grip on the creature. But then, more of the animals started to attack her. The taste of blood stuck in her mouth. The fish from before only whetted her appetite for more.

The air grew thick with white feathers as she hunted down every one of them in her reach. By the time she had finished off her meal, the once tidy sands were stained with crimson and feathers. Only one more animal remained. One of it's wings was torn off. It was now digesting in her stomach with the rest of them. It stumbled across the beach, dazed and bleeding.

Her mouth began to water. Despite all the things that she had already eaten, she still had room for more. The corrupted gem lunged hungrily at it. She caught the animal, and was preparing to tear it up when she remembered the pink one. He would need food as well. She should save this for when he returned.

The corrupted gem victoriously carried her prize back up to where the nest would be. She sat it down near the back of the cave, and then dropped the pink one. She still needed to find something to make a nest with... Then she recalled all of the feathers that had been scattered across the beach. She went back and grabbed mouthful after mouthful of feathers. She arranged them around the gem.

She sat down facing the gem, eagerly waiting for him to return. But nothing happened. The warm tropical air and relaxing atmosphere was calming. She was still in her weaker form after escaping. She'd need more power. The idea of sleep seemed like a good one... She'd just rest for a tiny bit...


	13. Washed Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brownie points to the person who catches the reference to the extended theme song in this chapter. (Which, if you haven't listened to, do it. It's super catchy.) I had a lot of fun incorporating that into the story.

Steven found himself trapped within the pink nothingness inside of his gem. Again. Right away, he felt fear. He needed to reform! He had to get out of his gem before something happened to him! He _hated_ being inside of his gem. He hated having to think about himself and deciding on a new form because of it. Being  poofed was horrible.

Right away, he tried to reform, but nothing happened. He was still trapped in the expanse of pink. This was wrong! He didn't want this. He wanted to get out of his gem again. Being all by himself was scary. Steven could never tell what was going on in the outside world. The inside of his gem was empty, he had no reason to be in there ever. Except for when he got hurt.

That was when he first realized how much pain he was in. His body still felt like one gigantic bruise from nearly drowning, and being thrown around by the tides. His chest hurt as well. It felt like there was a heavy weight still pressing down upon him. The atmosphere of the earth grew less hospitable at the top of the tower of water. It had been hard to breathe, and he had felt so sluggish and confused. His nose happened to smart as well. Luckily, he had only bloodied it, and not done anything worse.

While his non-existent body was very pained, his feelings hurt even more. Steven had no idea what he was supposed to feel. The gems had wanted to bubble him. Which they evidently had. Lapis had hated him after she was released from the mirror. But then she stopped hating him. But she had also half-killed him, and nearly let him fall to his death after the tower crumbled! He was left on Earth now too, without any friends. But with Lapis flying back to Home World, that meant help would have to be coming.

He was just so confused! Steven didn't want to think about any of it! He just wanted to get out of his gem so that he could escape. But his body was not reforming! He had reformed when bubbled before! So why was he stuck now? He wasn't stuck in here forever, was he? No, there had to be a reason for it. There had to be some explanation as to why this was all happening.

"Is it because I'm too weak?" He whispered to himself.

_"Humans are filth. They're weak. They couldn't strategize for their lives. They were all weak-minded imbeciles who-"_

Steven shuddered, trying to block out the sound of her voice. He liked Pyrite when she wasn't talking about her hatred of the Earth. She made talking about different wars and military strategies interesting and fun. Yellow Diamond said that she had been one of the greatest military generals, even before the war that had taken place on Earth. Most veterans had a few screws loose, but not Pyrite. She was a great teacher.

"Steven, are you listening?"

The yellow gem realized that he was staring at the diagram of the Earth without actually marking anything down in his notes. He blushed slightly and shook his head. Rather than get mad at him like most gems did, she just smiled and ruffled his hair. That was one of the best things about Pyrite. She didn't care that he wasn't always listening or did everything perfectly.

"Interstellar wars can only be interesting for so long huh?"

"It's not that. I just don't like it when you rant about the Earth all the time."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's because I'm-"

_"An abomination. No wonder why your fighting skills are so pathetic! You're just some freakish experiment, not Yellow Diamond's successor! I can't believe that I was asked to teach such a disgusting thing!"_

Three days later, he still refused to leave his room. Steven was sitting outside on his balcony, staring down at the gardens, and the city view beyond. The gems that strolled through the orderly area paid no mind to him. In fact, none of them had actually seen that he was sitting there. But that only made Steven feel worse. Like he was beneath their notice. Even if he was currently sitting above everyone.

He still couldn't believe that Pyrite had stormed out on him like that. He had trusted her. He thought that she would realize that human beings couldn't be completely bad if he was one of them. Instead she was furious, and had said all of those awful things. What if he wasn't able to become a gem warrior? What if the human in him made him weak?

There was a knock at the door. Steven sighed. He knew that he couldn't hide in his room forever. He left his seat to open the door. A tiny gem was standing there balancing a tray on her flat, rectangular hair. Some how she managed to bow without dropping the tray in the process.

"Y-Yellow Diamond got this for you."

"Isn't she off-planet right now?"

"She left a message." The gem squeaked.

Steven took the box that was resting on the tray. The gem gave him a second bow before running off. Curious now, Steven returned to the balcony. There was a small, glass, table next to his chair. He had to lean over to reach anything on it from his chair, so Steven sat on the ground instead. The box was nothing special. It had a tiny latch on it to keep from opening, but was otherwise uninteresting.

The inside of it was lined with velvet. And inside of the box was a tiny bag. It had a drawstring, which kept the contents from spilling out. Steven curiously opened it, and pulled out a small, golden, sphere. For a moment, he thought that it was some kind of new non-sentient gem. But it didn't do anything when he touched it. Steven pulled out a few more. Each was about the length of his pinky fingernail in diameter. These were all too small to be real gems.

At the bottom of the bag, there was a tiny holo-recorder. It was made simple in design. It was a half-sphere, with a round, pearly-white gem set in the middle. When he pressed a finger to the surface of it, a blue projection of Yellow Diamond appeared. Steven immediately stood at attention, even though she was not actually speaking to him live.

"Pyrite will no longer be instructing you as of today. Expect a new teacher to arrive by tomorrow. I've gifted to you a dozen marbles made out of fool's gold. Hopefully that will get you out of your room. Resume your studies immediately, Yellow Diamond."

Steven smiled a little, staring down at the marbles. She had actually gotten a souvenir from her trip! These weren't real gems at all! They were probably just from a planet that grew non-living ones. Steven had been begging her to get him something every time she left to go somewhere exotic! And now she finally had! He had to look up what kind of gem this really was right away. Even if it wasn't living, he was curious as to what kind of living gem model it would've been.

There was an encyclopedia on every gem model that had been made to date. Steven had a copy of it in his room. The book was large, and the first few pages of it were musty and fragile. New pages were added to it every few years when new models were created. Fool's gold was a nickname for something, but he didn't know what. Most gems didn't have different names to go by. It was easy for him to flip through all of the pages, scanning the subtitle under each name before continuing. As he flipped through the pages, Steven muttered the occasional name to himself.

"Let's see... Bismuth, Jet, Moonstone, Rose Quartz..."

Steven stopped flipping through the pages for a moment. The name of Rose Quartz was on the page, but everything else underneath had been torn out, revealing the page before it. Right where the gem's secondary name would have been, was a different name. Fool's Gold. Steven flipped the torn-up page so that he could look at the entry for it. A horrified realization dawned upon Steven as he did.

Fool's gold was the nickname for pyrite.

_"Steven, why did it take you_ _** ten ** _ _whole minutes to reform?"_

Ashamed, the Steven kept his head bowed.

"I couldn't get out. Something wasn't letting me leave."

"Tell me, do you know how long it takes for someone to crush your gem?" She asked.

"N-no."

"Seconds Steven." Yellow Diamond hissed. "Fractions of seconds."

Steven couldn't help it though. Reforming his physical body every time was a struggle. He had to fight against something that wanted to keep him inside of the gem. It almost felt as if he wasn't the only one inside of his gem. Whatever was inside of him, if there even was something inside of him, it wanted to be let out to reform as well.

Sometimes his hair was too long, another time, his eyes were pink. He had to spend at least a little time trying to stop any of those things from happening to him. If he didn't, he'd be in even more trouble for his unfitting choice in form. He was a future gem warrior, and he had to have a form that suited him for that.

"Are you so weak that even reformation is beyond you?"

"N-no."

"What did you say?"

"NO!"

"Good. Destabilize him again. But turn up the power this time."

No time was given to brace himself before the special destabilizer, made to work on him, stabbed clean through his chest.

_"You are not human, and you are not gem."_

Yellow Diamond placed a hand on Steven's shoulders, and tipped his head up to face her. His mentor's eyes bordered on a furious orange-red as she stared him down. Steven felt a tingle of fear run down his spine, not knowing what she was going to do. Would she poof him for asking? Would she not let him sleep for the next day?

"I-I never meant to-"

The gem took in a deep breath before speaking.

"You're _more_ than the both of them. You're _more_ power than any of those small-minded gems could ever imagine! You will be _more_ than any of your enemies could ever hope to be! And the universe will realize that once they have bowed down at m- _our_ feet! You're better than them all. You'll do things that their tiny little brains could never comprehend! None of them will ever understand until it's too late, and their gems have been crushed into mere _atoms!_ And when that day comes they will feel _regret!_ Everyone who ever wronged you, _everyone,_ will realize that there is _no_ way to stop us. Nothing will stop the Home World from reaching it's goals!

"You will fight for the place where you're free to aid the Home World, not matter what you do! You will fight in the name of those who died and everything that they believed in! You will fight for the world you were made on, your home! You will fight to live up to the legacy your predecessors left behind for countless years, to be everything we want to be when you're grown! You will grow up to be the greatest gem warrior that any of us have ever known!

"And nothing, no one, not even yourself can tell you otherwise! NOW GET BACK TO YOUR TRAINING!"

_"Steven, you are a-"_

**_"Weakling."_ **

_"Blessing. Y_ _ou have-"_

_**"Half the strength of the weakest gems."** _

_"Courage, and compassion. And so many other wondrous things. But you're living in a world where-"_

_**"Everyone is stronger than you."** _

_"-you will be alone at times. But you can change that. You can change the world Steven if you just-"_

**_"Die."_ **

_"Live. Life is-"_

_**"Something you don't deserve."** _

_"-the greatest thing any of us can ever have. Many gems will never-"_

**_"Look at you as little more than an embarrassment."_ **

_"-get the chance to live. They're dead on their feet Steven, mindless. The sights they see, the sounds they hear. It's all the same. Nothing matters to them except their home. That's not living. That's-"_

**_"The way things should be."_ **

_"-suffering. But you're more than just a gem. You're going to be a human being. Learn how to love Steven. Don't let them tell you otherwise."_

"STOP IT!" Steven yelled. "I don't want this! I don't want any of this!"

Memories and voices were constantly replaying before his mind, and voices he had never heard, didn't know where they came from, were constantly speaking. He just wanted to block out everything. He didn't want to think about what had happened to him in the past. All he could think of were painful memories, bad things happening to him.

_"What **do** you want Steven?"_

"I want to leave my gem!"

But he couldn't! He was forced to think about all of the things that had happened. All of the bad things that he didn't want to remember or think about. Despite knowing better, he compared what life on Earth was like compared to Home World. Not his life, but all of the others.

On Home World, everyone had a place, everyone had a purpose. They had to follow their assigned tasks or else they would suffer the consequences. For the short years he had lived, the Home World had always reminded everyone that if you didn't do what you were programmed to do, the world would fall into disarray. There was no choice for the unimportant gems. And they had to live their lives doing the same thing all the time, with no chance of ever seeing what life was like for those who were important.

But on Earth, no one really had something that they were assigned to do. The trees grew however they wanted to grow, animals came in different types, and few things looked or worked exactly the same. Nothing was equal, yet the planet still somehow survived. Every thing on the planet balanced itself out. It was the exact opposite of what the Home World said would happen if gems didn't do as they were told. It was living, breathing proof of them being wrong. The Home World was never suplosed to be wrong! Yet somehow, they were.

The Home World was supposed to have never lost a war either. Yet the battle for Earth was the one that had driven them off for the past few millennia. The Home World was wrong, and they did make mistakes. They weren't perfect even though they tried to hide the fact. If they weren't perfect, then it was wrong for them to destroy other "inefficient" and "defective" planets. The same went for gems as well. That made them hypocrites.

That meant all the other planets they had ruined didn't deserve it. It didn't matter if it was for the glory of their planet, or the resources. If they needed things so badly, then they should've tried to cooperate with the other planets, or figured out a way to save the Home World. There were rarely any living things other than gems on the planet. It made him wonder how much of this was the fault of kindergartens. Had they mined out the entire planet and then built all over them to hide it?

Being lied to about his home hurt. It almost hurt as much as being called horrible things did. He had thought that he could trust the Home World. But maybe that wasn't the case, maybe they were just as bad as the Crystal Jerks. No! That wasn't right! The Crystal Mean-Faces were responsible for corruption! And they had done all sorts of bad things during the war as well! They sold other gems as jewlery and stuff! That _was_ the truth right? All the things he had been told they were responsible for? It _was_ all their fault, wasn't it? It had to be!

Steven wasn't sure. But maybe he should think on it a little more. Not to pick a side, but just so that he could understand this better.

_"Much better."_

Suddenly, Steven realized that he could actually see his body now. He was beginning to reform!

* * *

The centipeetle lay on the ground, resting her head on her legs. She was intently watching the pink one, still wondering when he was going to come back. It had been so long! An eternity! Still, the pink one would have to come back eventually, right? He couldn't just stay in his gem forever.

The tenth time in a row of thinking this seemed to do the charm. The gem began to glow. The centipeetle jumped up excitedly. Finally! He was going to be back! The pink one rose into the air, glowing even brighter. Then, a body appeared. The outline grew larger and larger, too large in fact. The shape shuddered for a moment, and then shrunk back down again. The gem gave one final flash before turning solid.

Was it just her, or did the pink one look a little more, pink than usual?

Steven opened his eyes and tried to stretch. Much to his surprise, he was not bubbled. In fact he wasn't in the gem's base at all. He was standing in some sort of forested area, beach in the distance. This wasn't like the beach that he had come across before though. The water here seemed even more blue than Beach City's. And the sand was white.

Looking around, Steven did not see any of the gems. In fact, he didn't spot any gem signs of life. Just Earth ones. Birds fluttered from tree to tree, and bugs quietly buzzed and hummed. In front of him was a small waterfall, while behind him, there was a large boulder, that curved inwards like a cave. The inside of it was encrusted with multi-coloured crystals. Were those natural, or gem-made?

"What's going on here?" Steven wondered to himself.

A quiet snarl was his reply. Alarmed, he twisted to face the source of the noise. Standing by his feet was a tiny gem-monster. Steven recognized it right away. He had tried to free her when he was first bubbled! But what was she doing here?! And why wasn't she attacking him, like corrupted gems were supposed to do?

Steven remembered that the gem had corrosive saliva. He took a step back from her, not wanting to alarm the gem and have her attack him. But the gem followed his tracks. Steven took a second step back, and a third, but she continued to copy him. Feeling a little startled, Steven left the small space the boulder made.

The corrupted gem didn't follow him this time. Instead, she remained behind the waterfall. But after a few moments, she returned with something white in her mouth. The gem-monster dragged it over to him, and Steven got a better look at it. The thing she was carrying in her mouth was a seagull.

"Oh boy..."

Dropping it on his feet, the she stared up at him expectantly. Steven looked down at the dead seagull, and then back at the gem-monster. He hesitantly tried to pick up the bird, shuddering in disgust as he did so. The corrupted gem continued to watch him, as if she were waiting for him to do something. She snapped her jaws impatiently when he didn't. Steven got the gist of what she was trying to say.

"Oh. You want me to eat this?" He nervously asked. "I... Uh, I'm not too crazy about seagulls."

Much to his surprise, she seemed to understand what he was saying. The corrupted gem turned around. Before he could stop her, she had leaped into the pond the waterfall created. Within moments, she had returned with an orange, red, and white fish trapped between her jaws. Again, she dropped it at his feet. The fish flopped helplessly across the grass. Steven gave another nervous laugh.

"Er, thanks. But no thanks."

Steven picked up the fish by the tail. He was about to drop it back in the pond when she snarled at him. Steven pulled the fish away from the water, and she stopped. He tried to put it back again, but she continued to growl whenever he did so. Again, he realized what she was trying to convey.

"I-I'm not hungry." He said. "N-not that I don't appreciate this fish you got for me! But I think I should just put it back instead."

The gem-monster snapped her teeth at him again. She wasn't going to let him out the fish back. Steven looked at the fish, which had stopped wriggling by this point. Well, it looked like he would have no choice. He would have to eat the fish. Oh boy... This was going to be difficult... How was he going to get past this one? Wasn't there some way he could fake eating it instead?

"It'll taste like the sushi-flavoured doughnut." He promised himself. "Even though that was grosser than the Boston cream."

Taking in a deep breath, Steven put the fish in his mouth. It was slimy, and the taste of it was horrible. He had not even started to chew yet. Wincing, he slowly tried to chew the fish, while resiting the urge to gag. It was so slimy and gross. And he could taste bits of things, blood. It was just so awful!

The moment he swallowed the fish, Steven rushed over to the water and took the largest drink possible. He dunked his head in the water and rubbed his tongue, hoping that he would be able to get the flavour out that way. It was terrible! He thought he might get sick to his stomach again! When Steven pulled his head out of the water, he noticed something strange about his reflection. Even though the water was warped, he could clearly see that he had pink hair!

"Oh come on! Not again!"

Steven quickly checked for any other unsavoury changes in his appearance. The boy didn't notice anything right off the bat though. He was still wearing an old pair of Mr. Universe's jeans, and he had a t-shirt with the man's name on it as well. He seemed a smidgen taller as well. Although, Steven couldn't tell for certain. It was just his hair that decided to come out pink this time around. He hated it when this happened! Now he would be stuck with pink hair for the rest of eternity! At least, if he had any say on getting poofed. But with how things were going so far, it seemed like his hair might be back to the way it was before by tomorrow. He hoped not, but anything seemed possible now.

At least the corrupted gem seemed satisfied with him. Eating that poor fish had been awful, but she was no longer trying to make him eat anything else. The corrupted gem started to walk down towards the beach. She looked back at him a few times, making sure that he was following her. Steven gave a shrug, and did so. At this point, he didn't really have much to loose.


	14. Watermelon Battle

Amethyst sat on the cliff above the temple. She stared blankly at the horizon. It was nighttime outside, but the sky was obscured by clouds. Thunder rumbled not too far off in the distance, and she could make out the occasional flash of light illuminating the clouds. To her back, Beach City glowed as bright as ever. Even though it was weeks ago, the citizens there were still celebrating that the ocean was back. The faint sound of music and people's voices floated up the hill.

Any other time, the gem would've gone down to celebrate with everyone else. Vidilia had probably turned her kids loose to enjoy the evening. All that food and dancing that was probably going on would have been fun too. If not for the fact that the citizens were celebrating the ocean returning. For Amethyst, it wad just a reminder of everything that had happened within the past few days.

It had all happened so fast. She was so chill when she was Opal, the gem didn't even care about Ruby and Sapphire's arguments. She had thought they were just arguing for fighting's sake! Not that they were actually serious about bubbling Steven. The little guy had done nothing wrong. But then it had all started to go down hill as she realized what the truth of things was.

Pearl didn't know what to think when they were told to hold him down. She was unsure whether or not actually poofing him was a good idea. Neither of them had wanted to split up, but Steven was crying, and he was begging. He wasn't a threat, and all of them knew it. There was no reason for them to leave him trapped in a bubble for the rest of eternity!

Or, so they had all thought. Amethyst wasn't as close to Ruby and Sapphire as she was to Garnet. That didn't make the idea of loosing one of her teammates any less shocking though. If they kept Steven bubbled, everything would be fine. But if they didn't, Ruby wasn't coming back. And that meant Garnet wouldn't either. Chances were that Sapphire would take the loss hard. They'd either be down yet another Crystal Gem, or Pearl the Second would be born.

Amethyst winced. That was harsh. Even for her. She just didn't understand it though! Rose had made such a big impact on all of them. All of them except her. Amethyst just didn't get why she had been so special, why they all looked up to her like she was the sun itself! She had lead the rebellion sure, but now she was gone, dead in combat. Why were they still mourning as if it had happened days ago instead of years? Being sad was ok for like, a little bit, but for nearly five thousand years?

Was it even worth it though? Wouldn't it have been better to find a way to save Steven? Couldn't they just keep him out of the bubble until the day when Ruby was supposed to... Couldn't they just do that? Steven hadn't done anything wrong. All he wanted to do was go back home... The strength of the team mattered though! They had to protect the Earth from any threats. The Earth was the place she was made on, and the only home that she had ever known. And she'd vowed to protect it from harm.

"Amethyst? What are you doing up here?"

Amethyst turned around to see that Pearl was standing there. The gem looked just as frazzled as she felt. Pearl's normally neat hair was filled with fly-aways, and dark circles lined underneath her eyes. Rather than standing tall and proud, she slouched slightly. The gem walked over and sat down next to her, laying flat-out on the grass.

"Thinking." Amethyst shortly said.

Far off in the distance, thunder rumbled. A breeze was starting to pick up, pushing the clouds closer to the beach.

"Pearl?"

"Mhm?"

"Are we the bad guys?"

Pearl immediately sat up.

"What?"

Amethyst kicked her feet a little.

"We're keeping Steven prisoner here, even though he hasn't done anything."

"He's a prisoner of war now." Pearl replied. "He didn't have to do anything wrong."

"But we're not even _at_ war!" Amethyst said, her temper rising.

Pearl seemed oblivious to her reaction, but not because she didn't agree with her. The gem's eyes seemed almost glazed over. Her skin was sallow, and the expression on her face seemed haunted. For a moment, Amethyst wondered if she had been crying before coming outside to find her. Pearl's fingers tightly curled around the grass, as if she was trying to anchor herself to the Earth.

"But we will be soon." She whispered. "And we won't stand a chance."

Then it hit her: Pearl was frightened. Amethyst had never fought in the war, but Pearl and Garnet had. They knew what it was like from first hand experience. She had no idea what it was like though, or how all of it worked. She was barely old enough to be a gem warrior! Suddenly, Amethyst found that she was frightened of the future as well.

"It must've been awful."

"More than awful." Pearl said. "So many gems just, gone. We'd never have survived without Rose. She told me everything though, things that no one else knew, and then she expected me to lead if she ever..."

"Did you?"

Pearl gave a bitter laugh.

"Who would ever listen to me? Even with all of Rose's plans, I was still just _her_ Pearl. A lost, defective pearl. Everyone was confused, and we got scattered not long after. Most of us fought in small pockets instead."

"How'd you make it through the war?"

"Fusion. The Home World refused to let their armies fuse, but we abandoned those rules near the end. But if we became Alexandrite now, there's no way we could stand up to what we're faced with now. Maybe for a little bit, but..."

Amethyst gave Pearl a hug. The gem seemed surprised at first, but she returned the hug.

"We still have some time though." Amethyst softly said. "And each other."

"HELLO?! IS ANYONE THERE?!"

Just then, the moment was ruined by the sound of someone yelling, and knocking at the temple door. The gems both got to their feet and slid down the cliff, preparing to attack any intruders. They were both startled to recognize the man from before, the one who had driven them out to find the ocean.

This was exactly why they never should've gotten rid of the fence! Even if she had been impaled on it by accident during a battle, it was still useful for keeping the humans out. Now they were crawling everywhere over the beach and touching the sacred door to the temple with their sweaty fingers.

"Can we help you, uh, _you_?" Pearl asked.

"It's Greg." He introduced. "Greg Universe."

"What brings ya' here?" Amethyst interrupted. "You wanna' join in on the bet Vidalia and I have going? Winner takes it all..."

Greg blushed a little and shook his head.

"Er, no thanks, Amethyst. Everyone already thinks I'm weird enough what with the aliens kidnapping me and all."

Pearl thought there was something funny about the statement. But she just assumed that the human was merely delusional, and had accidentally hit his head, or perhaps ingested some kind of narcotic. Humans had done that in the past, so it would be no surprise to her that there was a simple answer to his statement. After all, they monitored gem activity on the Earth. Surely they would have noticed if some kind of alien ever made contact with the planet.

"Your loss."

"So what is it that you need, Greg?"

"Well, I just wanted to check up on Steven seeing as he almost drowned." Greg paused, looking at the both of them. "Although, I guess that isn't a problem for magical ladies like you."

"Steven is fine." Pearl said. "Now if that's all-"

Greg nodded, and he turned to leave. Something about the gesture tickled something in the back of Pearl's mind, but she wasn't quite sure what the reason for that was. The gem dismissed it for the time being. But just as she was about to go back to her room Amethyst let out a gasp.

"PearlIjustrealizedsomethingandweneedtogetGregnow!"

Amethyst grabbed onto Pearl's wrist, tugging her out the door and down the hill. Greg had already made it to the beach when they caught up with him. Greg looked over his shoulder and gave them a look. Before he could say anything, Amethyst picked up Greg and started to run back up the hill.

"Amethyst! Wait! Where are you going?"

Pearl sprinted after the two. Amethyst opened the temple door to her own room and stepped inside. Pearl followed after them. There was no way she was letting Amethyst touch any of the things that were in her room. She would mess them all up again, just like last time! And the time before that!

"What were you thinking bringing a _human_ into the temple?" She asked.

"Greg said he was kidnapped by aliens!" Amethyst said. "And Steven must've gotten his human side from _somewhere!"_

Pearl sighed, and she placed a hand against her gem.

"Countless humans claim that they've made contact with other life forms. This one just happens to live in Beach City!"

"Er, could you put me down?"

Amethyst complied, setting Greg down on the water. He seemed astonished by the sudden ability to walk on the water in her room, and experimentally took a few steps across it. Pearl could not believe that there was actually a human being, walking around and breathing and touching things in her room! It may have only been with his feet, but he was sill there inside of the temple!

"How about this then?" Amethyst asked. "Greg, how old does Steven look?"

"Well, I'd probably say maybe eleven. Twelve if his voice ever cracked when he talked."

"How long ago were you kidnapped?"

"Thirteen years."

Pearl let out a frustrated sigh.

"Amethyst, that doesn't mean anything."

"Come on P! He even looks a little like him!"

Pearl looked over at Greg's face. He was a burnt red, from the sun no doubt. The hair on the top of his head was gone, but he still had it growing out long. His face was weathered, and round, but not to the point where he was chubby. Sure the man was not in the optimal shape for a human his age, and Steven was on the larger side as well, but that didn't mean they were connected in any way.

"He does _not!"_ Pearl huffed.

"He does too!" Amethyst said. "Try doing your projection-thing-y with Steven's face next to his!'

"Fine! But only to prove that I'm right."

Pearl's gem lit up. A translucent, blue, projection of Steven's head appeared next to Greg. The man was startled by this, but managed to stand still. Pearl scanned over his face as well, so that she could compare the two. Mapping out their bone structures, the shape of their eyes, noses, and chins, she came to a conclusion.

"It's a forty-five percent match." Pearl frowned. "Which is a little too high to be just a coincidence. We'll need to compare their DNA instead."

Greg paled a little at this, and took a step away from them.

"Whoa, wait a minute. The last time someone asked for my DNA, they took all the hair on my head."

Greg pointed to the shiny bald spot he had.

"Oh, don't worry." Pearl said. "We'll just need a blood sample, and perhaps a few ounces of bone marrow."

"B-blood?"

Waving her hand, a rack of knives was pulled out from the depths of the water. Pearl scanned over them until she found the right one for their uses. Greg clutched his arm and took another step away from them.

"Won't we need some of Steven's too?" Amethyst asked.

"I never thought about that."

The gems went silent.

"You know, we could always-"

"Absolutely _not!_ Out of the question! If Garnet ever found out-"

Amethyst grinned.

"What if Garnet _didn't_ find out?"

"No. It's too risky."

"Oh well." Amethyst sighed. "I guess that means I'm right. After all, if you really thought you were, you'd be willing to prove it."

Pearl went silent for a moment. She knew that she shouldn't be persuaded by an argument like that, but she just couldn't stand the idea! If Amethyst got the satisfaction of being "right" she would have to move to an entirely different planet. No, absolutely not, there was no way that she was going to give her the chance to rub something like this in her face!

"Well, I _suppose_ we could just let him reform, and then pinch another never straight afterwards..."

Suddenly, the temple door opened, and Garnet walked into the room. Pearl stiffened and Amethyst assumed an innocent look, as if they weren't planning to do anything. Hopefully she wouldn't notice. Garnet stopped short when she saw Greg standing in Pearl's room. The fusion lowered her glasses to focus all three eyes on him.

"You're with a human."

Greg laughed nervously, and took yet another step back from the group.

"I think I'll just show myself out."

Amethyst opened the temple door for the man so that he could run away.

"I've located the next gem." Garnet said.

"You mean the invisible one that we can never find?" Amethyst asked.

"I thought we lost track of it centuries ago."

"It's on an abandoned island in-"

Garnet suddenly let out a hiss of pain. She clutched one of her hands with the other, and fell to her knees.

"Garnet!"

"I-it's nothing."

"Your gem! Garnet! Show me your gem!"

Garnet's grip became even more tight. She shook her head.

"I-I'm fine. It'll p-pass."

The fusion was too pained to stop Amethyst from prying away her fingers. They both winces at the sight of Sapphire's gem. The jagged, yellow lines were still creeping around beneath her skin and inside of her gem. They pulsed slightly, as if they were a living thing of their own.

"Garnet, you need to unfuse. You're hurting Ruby and Sapphire!"

"N-no! I s-she needs me! We can s-share the pain!"

Ruby was speaking. She was in control of Garnet now, rather than Garnet. The thing hurting Sapphire must have been too painful to let her concentrate on staying fused properly. Garnet straightened up to her full height again, and let go of her gem.

"Garnet, we need to get you to Rose's fountain!" Pearl said.

"I'm fine."

"But your gem-"

"I said, I'm fine."

"But..."

"We've spent too long tracking down that _stupid_ gem!" She hissed. "And I'm not going to loose it after we just found it again!"

It was definitely Ruby speaking. Pearl didn't like where this was going, and it was clear that Amethyst didn't either. But neither of them had a choice on the matter. Garnet, well, she was mostly Ruby now, was the leader of the team. They had to follow her orders. Besides, they could always heal her straight afterwards, right?

* * *

Steven sat on the beach, just underneath the shade of a tree. He was eating some of the "safe" fruits that he had found on the island. By safe, he meant that his gem friend had approved of. Being unfamiliar with the terrain, he had to trust her to find food that wouldn't poison him. Or consisted of raw fish and dead seagulls.

The gem-monster in question was not too far off. She was over by the sea shore, splashing in the shimmering, blue, water. She'd tried to coax him into the sea to chase seagulls with her, but to no avail. Steven had decided to avoid water for the time being especially after what had happened during his last adventure.

Instead, he continued to eat his way through the multitude of different fruits he had gotten. There were some red berries they'd successfully shaken out of a tree, along with some strange fruits they had found growing on the tree he was sitting above. They had a hairy, brown casing around them. After that was peeled back, there was another, tougher layer. It was also brown, with a greenish tinge to it. Steven had no ides how the gem thought he could eat it when it was as tough as a rock. In fact, he had actually broken a few rocks trying to get it open!

But out of all the edible things that he had found, the melon growing on the ground was the strangest. They were striped with two different shades of green, and were very heavy. The two of them had managed to roll one down to the beach. This one was tough, but easier to break open. The inside of it was a pink-red, almost like his gem. Black seeds dotted along the middle.

The melon was filled with juices, and Steven made a mess of himself eating it. The melon was a little sweet, but it was also very watery. The seeds were not very fun to eat either. He ended up spitting them out into the sand, not wanting to chew them up any more than he had to. They weren't raw fish bad, but they still weren't a pleasant experience for him.

After a little experimenting, Steven tried to see how far he could spit the seeds. He ended up hitting the gem-monster by accident. Hair bristling, she snarled, whirling around to face her attacker. But she found no one, only Steven. The boy waved at her.

"Sorry about that!"

Instantly, she relaxed, and walked over to him. Steven made a point of showing off his spitting skills. The gem-monster took a bite of the melon as well, and attempted to spit seeds, but they all ended up dissolving in her mouth. Steven laughed a little at her antics and said;

"You have to stop melting them first!"

She irritably snapped something back at him. The boy sighed, setting down his piece of melon.

"I wish I could understand what you were saying."

The monster-gem growled again, louder than before. She stepped closer to Steven, and her hair flared out again.

"What are you doing?"

Flecks of corrosive, green spit landed on the sand as she continued to hiss. Then, from behind him, Steven heard something hiss back. Slowly, he turned around, only to be face with himself. A melon version of himself. Screaming, he scrambled to get behind the corrupted gem. More hissing sounds were made as even more fruit versions of himself sprouted. Stevens made from all of the different fruits with seeds started to grow, all of them stalking closer to where they stood.

"What do we do?" He asked. "What do we do?!"

The gem pushed him a few steps back. The fruit-Stevens' hissing reached a crescendo. She leaped towards the nearest Steven and melted through him. This was all the provoking that they needed to attack her in return. Monster after monster piled upon her, trying to disable her. A pair of hands grabbed onto her hair, even more held her pincers in place. She severed the hands trying to hold onto her, and with a twist of her jaws, sprayed them with acid.

Whirling, and snarling, she slashed at any of the imposters that came near her. She heard Steven's frightened screams from somewhere between the angry hisses. Blinded with rage, she attempted to lash out even more. They were after him. The food was trying to hurt the p- Steven. She needed to get to him before he was hurt. They would try to while she was busy, distracted.

The sea of tropical colours started to thin slightly. The ground became slick with the juices and innards of the fruits. One of them tried to turn her over, but she melted it's face before it could do anything. Steven needed her. She needed to get to Steven... To tear the fruits apart. To make them all pay!

She would show them and their fancy words! This is what they would get for imprisoning her in there! After everything she had done, they still turned on her! They still tried to! In the thick of the battle, true allegiances were revealed, and everything turned for the worse. It all went wrong, everything went wrong. Her friends, her sister warriors, all the gems she cared about... They were lost because of...

"LOOK OUT!"

Reality set in too late for her to do anything. One of the fruits landed a kick. She was turned over, and sent rolling in the sand. It got into her jaws, on her gem, she couldn't see anything. It hurt too much! Any moment now, a second strike was going to hit her. The gem braced herself, waiting for impact. Hoping that she could still get in one more attack before they all went after Steven.

There as a sudden sound. The sound of something soft impacting with something solid. One of the fake Stevens let out a hiss of pain and frustration, one that was muted slightly. The gem weakly opened her jaws. Steven was leaning over her, tears in his eyes. Around them, the world was a strange shade of pink.

Steven wiped away the tears in his eyes with a sniffle. She looked so weak! But he had healing powers, and they were in the middle of a battle. The gem knew what he had to do, and had managed to make a bubble the two of them. Now he just needed to heal her wounds, and the she would be better.

"This is going to be a little weird." He said. "So, please don't bite off my hand."

Licking his thumb, Steven opened the gem-monster's mouth a little more. He prepared to react quickly, and then pressed his thumb against her gem. Steven speedily pulled his hand out of her mouth before she could react. The gem shuddered a little, disgusted, but still to weak to do anything about it.

To his surprise and disappointment, her injuries did not start to heal.

"Awe, come on! I though I had it!"

Out of nowhere, her gem turned white. Then, the rest of her did, almost as if she were reforming. The corrupted gem floated in what little space there was. Then, she started to grow larger, taking up more space in the bubble. Her torso stretched out, as did her hair. For a moment, Steven caught the outline of a gem. But another thought was shoved onto his mind as he was literally shoved against the side of the bubble. It popped. But the figure continued to increase in size. She stretched out over his head, and then most of the trees. Finally, the gem-monster became solid once again.

She was absolutely massive now! Her body was divided into segments, each one capped with a tough-looking green stone. New legs accompanied each addition to her new form. Her pincers had naturally increased as well. The corrupted gem let out a triumphant roar, and let a rainfall of acidic salvia land on the remaining enemies.

Once they were all gone, she turned around to face Steven. From now on, he was never allowed to eat fruit. He could just eat more fish and seagulls instead.

"Wow! That was awesome!" He cheered. "Why didn't you say you could do that?"

The gem-monster growled something at him. Which Steven of course had no idea what it meant. The boy looked out at the beach instead. It was stained in various reds and yellows after what had just occurred. There were pieces of fruit littered everywhere across the beach. Already flies and seagulls were eating the scraps left over from the battle.

Steven sighed. He wished that they didn't have to fight those crazy fruit versions of himself. But they attacked him first! And they couldn't really talk. Some things couldn't be negotiated with though. It seemed like crazy fruit versions of himself were included on that list. Although, it was strange that this had only happened now.

Why would those... Fruits, suddenly come to life after he had been on the island for so long? Did his powers have something to do with it? His spit! That was it! His spit! Normally, he spat his seeds into the ocean. He and his monster friend usually ate close by a cliff, so that nothing could sneak up on them from behind. But since he had spat them where they could grow...

"WE BOTH HAVE POWERS IN OUR SPIT!"

The corrupted gem was slightly alarmed by this. She made a questioning sound, wondering what he was so excited about. Steven decided to elaborate.

"I can heal things, and you can melt things! But also I can create crazy monsters, which you can't-"

Several spheres of light appeared before Steven. They all reformed into tiny, identical gem-monsters these ones did not have any hair or gems.

"Whoa! You can do that too?!"

She snarled in agreement, and then commanded something to the miniatures. They scattered across the beach and started to eat the remains of the fruits. Others started to carry small mouthfuls of water, dumping them onto the sand. Within moments, the beach had been cleared of evil, living, fruit-clones.

"You're amazing!"

" _Shhh!_ Did you heard that?"

"What was it?"

Steven's blood ran cold as he recognized the voices of the Crystal Jerks.

"It might be the invisible gem!"

"Look for the signs!"

The corrupted gem heard them as well. The voices weren't too far off, and they were coming from the forest. The gem-monster quietly said something to her creations. They all scattered across the island. Not long after, sounds of distress were heard. She lowered her head. Steven caught on to what she wanted. He climbed on to her neck, and got a firm grip on her hair. She let out a slight snarl of discomfort, but let it go.

Keeping their eyes wide open, the duo slowly crept across the island. It was already rather small. They wouldn't have anywhere to hide, especially with how huge she now was. Steven had no idea what she planned to do. The corrupted gem remained low to the ground, and she occasionally lifted her head to sniff the air before proceeding.

Then, they cane to a tiny clearing. Much to his shock, there was a warp pad! However, there was also a gem guarding it. Amethyst. Steven felt his heart clench painfully. He couldn't believe that she was willing to side with the other gems. Willing to bubble him for what would've been the rest of eternity. But allegiances came first, then friendships.

The corrupted gem summoned two more miniatures. They quietly snuck up from either side of her. Amethyst saw the first one and caught it with her whip, but the other caught her by surprise, and knocked the gem onto her back. More fem-monsters arrived and helped distract the gem.

Steven pressed himself as far as he could into the corrupted gem's hair, hoping that he wouldn't be spotted. With a sudden lurch, she had leapt towards the warp pad. The gem tightly coiled into a spring-like shape so that she could fit. Before Amethyst could get up, the warp had been activated.

"Guys! The monster's getting-"

The conversation faded as warp space filled in around them.

With the aid of the centipeetle, they had escaped once again.


	15. Brambles

"Where are we?"

Steven's voice echoed through the area without an end. The place where they had warped was dark, so dark that he could barely see anything. The sky above was obscured by something, but Steven couldn't quite tell what it was. The entire area was covered in the same thing as well. He had to wait until his eyes adjusted to make out anything in the place they had warped to.

The corrupted gem uncurled, and slithered off of the warp pad. Steven got off of her back and stretched. He could see more of the terrain now. It was all frigid greens and greys. The ground beneath his feet was a patterned stone. Obviously, this was some abandoned gem hub then. The thing that hid the sky was a vine. A large, spiky, vine with wicked-looking thorns. It had claimed everything. It grew over stones and walls, and eventually over itself as it struggled to reach the sun. The plants were directionless and pathetic. They clung to everything within their reach without consideration.

The thicket crept in all directions. The place where they had warped was only a clearing in the tangled mess. Luckily, this one was large enough to contain the both of them. A reprise of being squished in his bubble was not something Steven really wanted to face. The sharp, thorny plants here looked much less forgiving than the rounded edges of his bubble.

"How did you know this place was here?" Steven asked.

The gem didn't really expect a response that he could understand. The corrupted gem always spoke in a series of fierce snarls and growls. Steven really wished that he could understand what she was saying, that he could get her uncorrupted, but that didn't seem possible. His healing powers only seemed to make her stronger. Or maybe she had been too injured to be strong, and he healed her? Steven didn't really know. He'd hardly even gotten a chance to use his healing powers. It was all so confusing!

"I wish I could get you back to normal."

_"You... Can... Fix... Can... Steven..."_

They were so close! The more time she spent outside of her gem, with Steven... It made her feel stronger, so much stronger. She didn't have to remember who she was. She made new memories, new things to care about. She had Steven. Steven could help fix... If she became someone new... Forgot the past, she would make a new version of herself to reform into. She couldn't understand herself or her past. She didn't want to think about any of those things!

But when she didn't think about herself, there was no one to reform into. No one except... Who she was now... A monster who didn't care. But Steven was giving her things to care about, helping reinvent herself. Just a little more time... She could be someone new. The pink one could heal her... Then everything would be better. There would be no pain from the past.

Just a little more time... A tiny push to help her... If the pink one tried to fix her again, maybe... There was a reason they were here though. Two pink ones, with the power of two, they could fix her. They would be strong enough together. Perhaps. But they had to find her. They had to find the other one who could fix her. She was in this place, somewhere deep beneath the brambles.

The centipeetle directed her spit towards the "roof" of the vines, melting them away. Stretching up to her full height, she peered through the hole. It was still daylight outside, but the vines assured that it was dark within the thicket. Some ways away, there was a sudden rise in the height of brambles. Soft, grey stone glinted just beneath the surface. There. That was where they needed to go.

Lowering herself again, the corrupted gem summoned a new wave of centipeetles. She quickly gestured to the brambles, instructing them to get rid of them. The armada did as they were told, eating and tearing away at all of the vines. None of them bothered to mind the thorns. She joined in as well, burning a pathway through the thick tangle of plants.

The vines were much tougher than they looked. At first, her acid did not seem to work on them. It was only after a few layers were allowed to soak in that they started to curl up and burn. Gradually, she wore her way through, with Steven following not far behind. He was excited as ever to see her at work.

Just as they reached the middle of the vines, their entry way was sealed shut. Vines snapped back together, growing with a vengeance, trying to snap out at them. Several of the vines wrapped around her pincers, even more grabbed at her middle. She tried to slice through them with her mandibles, but they were sharp, and tough. Thorns stuck into the roof of her mouth and stayed there.

"Ah! Get away from me!"

Once again, Steven's frightened cries caught her attention. The boy was doing his best to fight off the brambles snaking around him. The scent of blood wafted into the air. The pink one was bleeding. Not good. He was going to be injured, would have no time to fix it all. Ignoring her own pain, she lashed out at the vines that were grabbing at him. She summoned more and more centipeetles to help overwhelm their attackers.

Eventually, the broke through to another clearing. The attacking vines finally seemed to get the message, and they left the duo alone. Steven let out a sigh of relief. Why did plants have to hate him so much? What had he done to them? Was it because Home World gems were the ones who'd made the kindergarten here? Did the plants know that or something? Because he really didn't get why they felt the need to hurt him!

Steven might have continued to mentally rant if not what he saw next.

It was the giant woman. The same one he'd seen when the laser light cannon fired. She was sitting on the ledge of something, but Steven couldn't see what. Vines had claimed this area as well. She rested her hands in her lap, just a little ways below her gem. The same gem that he had embedded within his stomach. The statue was so detailed that she almost looked alive...

_"Learn how to love Steven. Don't let them tell you otherwise."_

Shaking his head, the boy took a step away from the statue. He accidentally stepped onto one of his friend's feet instead. She made an annoyed sound. The both of them were already in a lot of pain as with was without him stepping on her foot. His awe with the statue faded when he remembered how many thorns were currently stuck in him.

Steven felt a pair of jaws carefully pick him up by the shirt. Above the life-sized statue, even more brambles grew. These ones remained tame though. Pushing their way through them, Steven realized that there was some kind of hidden basin above the statue. There was something in the center of it, made of the same stone that everything else was. It too had a layer of vines twining around it.

They settled down near the bottom of the basin, but not too close to the center of it, where the plants were. The gem-monster lay down, forming a circular shape around Steven. She started to pull thorns out of her sides, Steven did the same with himself, and he started to heal whatever he could reach on the both of them. The duo patched each other up for the most part, but they were still exhausted by the end of it all.

It may have still been day time, yet that did not stop them from being tired. Steven curled up against the gem-monster, snuggling into her hair. She coiled into a tighter circle, taking care to not disturb Steven either. They both fell asleep, worn out after the day's adventures.

* * *

When Steven got up the next day, he felt much more refreshed. Now that he'd had the chance to recover, he was ready to explore the strange place. The corrupted gem was already awake. She had remained perfectly stationary until he had woken up. Then, she got to her feet and stretched, giving a lazy yawn.

"Morning."

She said something in reply.

"So, what's the plan for today? Find food and water?"

The gem-monster lowered her head, and Steven climbed onto her back again. She walked to the other side of the basin, sniffing the air as she did so. The brambles remained stationary, even as she burned her way through a wall of them. Behind the plants, there was a stair case, and a star-shaped arch that lead outwards.

Here, the land dropped sharply. There was a steep staircase leading into a new valley of thorns, stretching far off before taking another vertical turn downwards. On either side of the valley, there was a stone wall. They were in some sort of canyon. Only this one had living things, unlike the kindergarten.

"I don't see anything here."

The gem-monster burned way some of the vines growing next to them. Here, Steven saw that there was a stone panel, that didn't match the rest of the area. It looked heavy, but she had no trouble in pushing it back with her jaws. Underneath the stone, there was only a yawning hole of darkness.

Before he could say anything, the corrupted gem dropped down into the hole. It was pitch black inside. The air was musty and humid. Steven couldn't feel anything around him. But the area must have been large if they could both fit underneath it. Suddenly, her hair started to light up, creating a way for them to see. Steven grinned. Just another power that he had learned about. Maybe he could do that with his hair as well. After all, it still was that painfully bright pink colour.

Still, there wasn't much to see in the underground. It just seemed like a tunnel of sorts, leading somewhere. It had a somewhat low ceiling to it, but the walls were farther apart from each other. The sound of water dripping echoed from somewhere deep within the place.

They walked down the tunnel, searching for something. The path never diverged. It just continued in a linear direction. The farther they walked, the more humid the air became. The musty smell faded though, giving away to the sweet, overpowering scent of something else. Steven didn't know the name for the Earth flower. Where could he have ever learned about it after all? The Home World didn't care about the wildlife of other planets. They had no reason to make note of it.

Finally, they came to a chamber. Here was where the problem became evident. The square-shaped room was cramped with vines. The same thorny plants that were growing above. But these ones had flowers blooming on them, large, fragrant blooms. The sound of dripping water came from here. The brambles were soaking up all the water underground.

The gem-monster reared back, planning to shower the plants with acid. But just in time, she remembered that Steven was on her back. If she sprayed the ceiling, then some of it might fall on him as well. The gem quickly carried him back up to the surface, and dropped him in front of the statue.

Not long after, the ground beneath his feet began to rumble. The vines surrounding the statue and basin began to shake. Suddenly, the sound of water running began. It was coming from within the vines, and pouring into the basin they had slept in. This wasn't just a statue, this was a fountain!

The vines started to sprout pink blossoms of their own when they touched the water. It washed away the brambles as new flowers started to grow. Light filled the area. But too late Steven realized he was standing in the area where the fountain's run-off poured into. The boy was submerged underneath the sweet-smelling water.

He opened his eyes. For a moment, Steven could have sworn that he saw a figure looming over him, stretching out a hand to help him. The gem got over his shock and swam upwards. Breaking through the surface of the water, he took in a gasping breath of air. Steven rubbed the water out of his eyes.

When he opened them again, Steven realized that he was staring at the giant woman again. Not the statue from before, but a new one. There had been vines surrounding her before, but they had withered and bloomed, revealing what had been right before his eyes the entire time. The gem had her arms outstretched, as if she were welcoming someone. The water he was floating in came from her eyes. Tears. The tears flowed into the basin he had slept in before falling down into the one where he floated now.

Steven swam over to the ledge and pulled himself out of the water.

* * *

"I still don't get why there were centipeetles on the island!" Pearl said.

"Maybe there are two of them." Amethyst suggested.

"That's not possible." Garnet said.

The gems were sitting in their infamous meeting room. It had been rearranged now that Garnet was back and Opal was unfused. Their mission had ended in complete failure after they had been attacked by a swarm of centipeetles, and lost the invisible gem they were searching for the in the first place. A scan of the island proved fruitless. Not only was there no sign of the centipeetle mother, but there was no sign of the invisible gem as well.

"Well then maybe it escaped."

"Don't be ridiculous! That's not possible!"

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Then how were there centipeetles on the island?"

Pearl faltered for a moment.

"I... I don't know. But she's the only thing we've bubbled recently, other than Steven."

"So we can check them?" Amethyst asked.

Both gems looked over at Garnet. Ultimately, it was her decision to make. If she felt like it was a bad choice, then they wouldn't do it. Garnet would be the one who was at risk if they accidentally let Steven out of his bubble. That wasn't something they would risk without checking upon first.

"We probably should."

Amethyst and Pearl leapt to their feet at the same time. Garnet followed behind them, but didn't try to keep up. Amethyst arrived in the room first. It was filled with countless gems that had been bubbled over the years. The tops of the room held the oldest, while near the bottom, more recently caught gems could be found. It wouldn't bee too difficult to find Steven- The centipeetle gem.

"Is it this one?"

Pearl looked where Amethyst was pointing.

"No, that's an emerald."

"What about this one?"

"Jadeite."

"That one?"

"Uranium."

"This?"

"How about the one by your head?"

"Tourmaline."

"This!"

"You just pointed at that one!"

Amethyst gave an annoyed huff.

"What does it even look like?!"

"Green." Said pearl.

"Well I know _that_ much."

"And spherical. It had a black stripe running down the middle, and there was a smaller circle in the middle of the gem."

They both set out of search for the gem, craning their necks to look. Despite that, neither of them saw anything. Neither Steven nor the monster's gem could be found within the first few layer of bubbles.

"Do you see anything over there P?"

Pearl frowned.

"Nothing."

Amethyst aimed a kick at the floor.

"Why don't we have a system for this?"

"We used to." Pearl sighed. "Rose knew what kind of gems they all were. She had a book somewhere identifying them all, but it's been missing ever since..."

"Find anything?"

Garnet had finally caught up to them. She stepped into the room, and glanced at both the gems. Amethyst and Pearl shook their heads. The gem's normally collected demeanor flickered slightly. Ruby was still in control for the most part. The normally angry gem was already irate, but hearing this made her a little less calm.

"They had to be here somewhere!" Pearl said.

"I still don't see anything."

"But how could he have broken out?" She asked. "Where would he go? Where have we ever warped him to? Steven wouldn't go to the kindergarten, would he?"

"There's nothing there though." Amethyst said.

"And why would he bring a monster along with him?! It just doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to make sense!" Garnet snapped. "We need to contain Steven before-"

Garnet suddenly hissed in pain again.

"GARNET!"

The gem didn't say anything, simply holding on to her arm, with her fingers splayed. A hairline crack now ran through Sapphire's gem. A line of sickly, yellow light traced across it and around her gem. Her gem looked like it was green instead of blue. Whatever was inside of her gem was getting even worse.

"We need to get her to Rose's fountain!" Pearl said.

"How are we supposed to get her there? She's too heavy!"

Pearl started to nervously sweat as she scrambled for an idea on what to do. If only Rose were here. She would know how to solve this! Rose coukd just heal her fem and they wouldn't have to go to the fountain... No! That was it! They didn't need Rose here to help! They needed Rosie!

"ROSIE!"

There was no response from the lion.

"You seriously need to train that thing better."

Pearl blushed a little.

"I've been trying to! But he just won't listen!"

"I wouldn't listen if someone named me Rosie either."

Sticking two fingers into her mouth, the gem gave a shrill whistle. Within seconds, the large, pink, lion had appeared. The two gems picked up Garnet and helped her onto Rosie's back. Pearl sat behind her, helping Garnet remain upright. The fusion was still holding onto her arm and not saying anything, even as she shuddered.

"Amethyst, you take the warp there! Rosie and I will use Rosie!"

Amethyst nodded and ran up the stairs to the warp. In the meantime, the lion roared, opening up a new gateway for them to run through. He collapsed the moment they arrived there, the weight being too much for the lion. Or perhaps he was just too lazy to do anything more. Garnet was already heavy as it was.

With a little struggling, Pearl managed to slowly push the frozen fusion closer to the fountain. The gem dropped Garnet not too far off from the fountain. Luckily, it was still running. Pearl cupped her hands, and grabbed some of the healing tears. She ran back to Garnet and poured it all over Sapphire's gem.

For a moment, it looked like the tears had done nothing to help. But slowly, the crack sealed itself. The yellow lines, which had been bright and flash before, started to dim down. They no longer crept underneath her skin and inside of her gem. They went stationary, and eventually vanished all together. Garnet slowly flexed her fingers, and the gem let go of her arm.

Pearl sobbed in relief, hugging the fusion.

"Uh, Pearl?"

The gem didn't look up at Amethyst, but she could hear that the gem was behind her. The gem seemed to be standing farther away.

"What took you so long to get here?"

"Pearl?"

"I had to carry Garnet by myself!"

"Pearl."

The last part was said in barely a whisper. The gem turned to look at Amethyst. The purple gem had turned rather pale, and she was frantically pointing in her direction. Pearl looked where she was pointing, trying to figure out what was there. Then she saw it. Just behind the fountain's base, something or someone was stirring slightly.

Pearl looked down at Garnet. The fusion still looked as if she had some catching up to do inside of her head. She was awake, but still somewhat frozen in place. The fusion didn't seem to be in any danger of relapsing though. It would be safe enough to leave her sitting there, right?

The two gems slowly crept around either side of the fountain, planning to sneak up on whatever was there. With the roaring sound of the water, the thing would have to have super hearing to realize that they were heading in it's direction. There, with his back pressed against the fountain, was Steven. Both gems reacted almost instantly.

"STEVEN!"

The boy jumped, his eyes growing wide with fear. They had found him! They knew that he was out here! He made a dash straight forwards, but was cut off by Garnet. The fusion had recovered and was ready to fight once again. The gems thought that they had him surrounded, but none of them were prepared for what would happen next.

A raspy growling started from behind them. Out of nowhere, the centipeetle mother appeared, throwing herself in front of Steven. She protectively curled her body around the boy, and bared her teeth at them. Steven pulled himself up onto her back so that he could see the other gems.

"So _that's_ where it went!" Amethyst said, grinning. "Isn't that right, _Pearl?"_

"Yes, you were right." Pearl muttered. "But now we can kill two birds with one stone."

"You're not killing any one!" Steven yelled at them.

"It's just an expression dude."

Pearl dropped her spear. Amethyst did the same with her own weapon. Garnet didn't have hers out to begin with. Both gems placed their hands behind their backs, so they couldn't summon anything. The centipeetle relaxed a little more at this, but still glared at them. Steven was still looking between them nervously.

"We know that you don't want to fight us. But you have to retreat to your gem so we can bubble you."

 _"What?_ No way! I'm not going back there just because you want me to!"

"It's not _just_ that."

"There are more complex reasons to keep you bubbled now. If we don't-"

"I don't care!"

The gem's fingers twitched a little.

"You _can't_ defeat us!" The fusion said.

"If you surrender now, there will be less pain for everyone!" The pearl added.

Steven looked down at Amethyst instead of the other two. Both of them looked ready to pull out their weapons again, but she didn't. The corrupted gem was still bristling, and quietly growling at the other gems as she waited for them to make any wrong movements. If they didn't leave soon, she might start attacking them.

"Amethyst, do you agree with them?"

Amethyst didn't say anything. She was looking in his direction with the rest of the gems, but her gaze seemed to fall just before she could meet his eyes. Steven wondered if asking for her help was going to work this time. The gem wasn't doing anything. Even her teammates seemed a little surprised by the action.

"Amethyst?" The pearl asked.

"Don't let him get to you."

"I haven't done anything!"

"He's done this before." The fusion said.

"I'm just trying to get home!"

"We've talked about this Amethyst."

"I don't want to make trouble for you guys! I don't want anything to do with you!"

"Amethyst!"

For the first time, Amethyst fully met his stare. She blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. Her expression turned hard. Confusion and despair was replaced with determination. The gem summoned her whip, and took a step backwards. The corrupted gem hissed at the sight, shifting in her spot.

"I'm sorry dude. But in war, there are things you have to do things you don't like!"

The gem sent her weapon hurling towards Steven. The lash wrapped around his legs. Before she could pull him off of the corrupted gem's back, she burned through iy. This was all the provoking that she needed to attack the three other gems. First, she summoned the smaller versions of herself to distract the other gems. Then she bent at an odd angle, so her tail end was near her front.

Steven realized that she wanted him to climb to the other side. He did exactly that, precariously balancing on her pincers. The gem-monster did an amazing job of multi-tasking. The front half of her started to fight off the gems, while at the same time, she rose high enough to place Steven in the top half of the fountain. The boy sat in one of the fountain's outstretched hands, high up, and far away from the fighting.

From his spot, Steven could see everything that was happening. The gem-monster was pushing the others farther away from the fountain, trying to prevent them from getting any closer to him. Spears were thrown and Amethyst tried tying up her mouth with her whip. The spears bounced off of her tough outer shell though, and her jaws were much stronger than the whip was.

It was a diversion though. Steven realized that the fusion was running closer to the fountain, towards him.

"Behind you!"

Without even turning to face the other threat, her pincers leaped out at the fusion. Before she could be caught between them, the fusion held both halves apart from each other. She ducked out of the way before letting go of them. Then she continued her sprint towards the fountain. She jumped on one of the statues, and used that as a starting point to leap for the top part. The fusion just barely missed her mark. She was sent falling back down into the waters below. She surfaced not long afterwards.

"Amethyst, Pearl! We need to get up there!"

They looked up to where he was kneeling in the statue's hand. Steven stuck his tongue out at the group and made faces. Either they couldn't see that from the ground, or they didn't care. They instead changed their plans, scattering to either side of the gem-monster, and turning to where she would have trouble reaching them. She started to aim her spit where the gems would be, causing them to change directions at the last second.

"Garnet! Remember how we tried to destroy the red eye?"

Suddenly, the fusion grabbed Amethyst. She jumped onto the gem-monster's back, and then ran along her before taking another jump. Amethyst was thrown towards the top of the fountain. But her aim was a little off. She hit the ledge, tight in the gem with a painful-sounding crack. Steven winced. Had she cracked her gem by doing that? Amethyst was too dazed to grab onto the ledge. She fell back into the fountain.

Not long after, she stumbled out, and shook herself dry.

"I'm ok!"

"Amethyst! Shape-shift into something that can fly!"

The gem just barely missed a shower of corrosive salvia.

"I can't! I need to concentrate!"

"Garnet, try throwing her again!"

The fusion did as she was told, picking up Amethyst as she ran past the gem-monster. She threw Amethyst towards the top half of the fountain, and this time, she didn't miss her mark. The gem fought to swim against the current in the fountain, but managed to reach the base of it's dress.

Hugging herself against the side, she started a slow and slippery climb up the fountain. Once or twice, she slid downwards. The stone was slick and wet, there wasn't much for her to hold on to. Steven tried to do something to keep the gem away before she could reach the top of the statue. But all he really had was his spit, and that didn't really do anything to help. At least, it didn't do anything to help him.

Amethyst reached the top of the statue, and now she started to inch her way along the arm of it. Steven backed farther away from her, only to realize that the only direction he had at this point was straight down. Even if he took the fall, two other gems would still be waiting there for him.

"Get away from me!"

"I don't like this either." Amethyst panted. "But I don't have a choice. We're on opposite sides of a war."

"A war that's been over for five thousand years!"

"Don't you get it Steven? If Home World finds out we're here, they'll kill this entire planet! The Earth is my only home, and I'm not going to loose it!"

"No! Y-you can't keep me here any longer!"

The gem had reached the end of the arm, and was carefully getting up on her feet. She summoned her weapon.

"This is going to hurt me more than it'll hurt you."

"NOOO!"

The centipeetle turned when she heard Steven's screams. She realized that he was cornered. She turned herself around to reach him before the other gem could strike. But too late, she realized her mistake. The other gems lunged towards her. Several spears were jabbed into the roof of her mouth and around her gem before she could do anything. And a heavy weight came crashing down upon her head, squashing her against the side of the fountain. Another punch hit her before she even got the chance to get up and fight.

The gem-monster was poofed. Steven saw her gem go flying from the impact. If she hit anything solid, her gem would be smashed. Steven knew then and there that he was the only one who could do anything. His head seemed to disconnect from his mind. Everything became quiet and serene. Nothing else around him mattered. He watched his actions as if he were not the one who was doing them.

Steven realized that he was holding on to something in his hands. He fumbled with it a little before catching it. The thing was spherical, green in shape, with a black contour running along it. It was the gem. His friend's gem. He had caught it before she hit anything and shattered. But how had he caught her?

The weight of the sky itself pressed down upon him at the top of Lapis' tower. The air was thin, it made it hard for him to think. But he had healed her, and she had left to go back home. If he healed his friend, they could make their way back home as well. Falling though. Falling from the tower as it dismantled was strange. The air was no longer thin, but his head spun. It was confusing. Voices and thoughts echoed in his mind, and he couldn't quite understand what was going on.

This was like falling from the tower, but nowhere near as strong. His stomach plummeted, and the air rushed around him. The world was nothing more than a pink and grey blur of confusion and chaos. It was surreal, it was unlike anything that he had really seen before. There was a whistling sound that picked up in his ears, one that he had been ignoring up until this point.

He only realized it had been there when it had gone. Something warm enveloped him. His grip on his friend tightened. He was drowning. After Lapis had pulled him underneath the water, everything was chaotic. He couldn't see, his eyes stung. They stung with tears and the salt water of the ocean.

The water snapped Steven back to reality. He had jumped. He had jumped and caught her gem and fallen into the water in the fountain below! He let out a terrified scream, only to be choked by the water. The gem swam to the surface, coughing up water and trying to scream in fear at the same time. His eyes burned, the water in the fountain was salt water, like the ocean.

"There he is!"

"Get him!"

The gems started to wade towards him. Steven was near more shallow water though. As he swam closer to where the base of the statue was, there was a tiny island of stone beneath it. He pulled himself up onto it, choking and sobbing. He knew that the gems were going to reach him at this point, and there was nothing he could do. His friend had been sent back to her gem, and he had no way to defend himself.

Steven hugged the gem to his chest, tears welling in his eyes.

"P-please come back! We got so far! I-if you don't get back now, we'll never get another chance to escape!"

The gems were getting closer to him. He could hear their voices even over the sound of the fountain.

"Don't you remember all the fun times we had? Destroying the fruit versions of me? How both of have spit powers?! And how you totally killed all those crazy plants?! You saved me! And I helped you get stronger again!"

"Almost there-"

"I can't believe we've been forced to soil the sacred tears of Rose's fountain by-"

"You have to remember me! We're best buds! YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER!"

_Remember..._

_"N-no... It hurts too much. I don't want to..."_

_Remember..._

_"Steven... I can remember Steven... I-I can think about everything Steven and I have done..."_

_Remember!_

_"Who am I now? Who have I been when it doesn't hurt?"_

_REMEMBER!_

_"I... Am... ME!"_

The pain of the past faded a little as she recalled everything that she and Steven had done. She now knew who she wanted to be, who she had already been for Steven, and who now suited her the best. She was strong enough now. Strong enough with the combined efforts. The healing powers for her gem, and the pink one for giving her the chance.

He gave her the gift of being free to live and make new happy memories, ones that weren't ruined by what would later happen in the war. After all, how could she reform properly if she didn't think about herself and who she was in the past? But now she had a past that didn't have the pain from the war.

For the first time in millennia, she was able to open her eyes properly and see the world.

"Hello _Crystal Gems."_


	16. An Appetite for Ambush

_"Hello **Crystal Gems."**_

The Crystal Gems froze in place, startled. For a moment, the only sound to be heard was that of the fountain. Then, Pearl spoke up.

"Y-you healed her."

The gem gave a raspy laugh, that quickly turned into a cough. Teetering on her feet slightly, she managed a few hesitant steps forwards on her new legs. The gems took another alarmed step away from her. None of them knew what to expect from a newly reformed gem. She could be weak, or she could be powerful. She could be vengeful as well, after all the times that they had bubbled, or at least, tried to bubble her.

Steven tugged on the gem's sleeve. She looked down at Steven. Her thick, cream-coloured hair obscured any eyes she might have on her face.

"Do you, know who I am?"

How could she not know who he was?! The gem nodded in reply.

"What's your name?"

"I-I'm..."

The gem let out a centipeetle-like screech. She grabbed her hair and shook her head. The gem's body buzzed, turning distorted and lost it's colouration. Her hair changed lengths, and the clothes she was wearing changed as well. For a moment, it seemed almost as if she were going to return back into the gem-monster from before. But she stopped, maintaining a solid body again. The gem's appearance had swapped though.

"I d-don't want to remember... D-don't make me remember Steven! I-it hurts..."

"What do I do?! S-should I give you a name?"

The gem's voice was barely audible above the sound of rushing water.

"Yes. Please. Stop making me think about it..."

Instantly, Steven thought back to the book of different gem models on Home World. He didn't want to recall whether or not be knew what kind of gem she was. Just something green them. What was the first green gem he could think of? Aquamarine? No, that was too hard to say. And there was no way that she could be a jade or an emerald. Peridot was out of the question. None of those suited her at all!

"How about Apatite?" Steven said. "Get it? It sounds like _appetite!_ And it'd be funny because you like to eat a lot!"

"I-it's wonderful."

The newly-dubbed Apatite grinned weakly. Her shivering fit ended, and the gem started to look more stable once again. Apatite pushed Steven farther behind her, and the gem's smile twisted into a feral snarl. When she took another step towards the Crystal Gems, none of them held their ground. They were all shaken, disturbed by what they had just seen. She was acting almost like a gem that had been cracked. Only, this was a worse case of it, and there was nothing wrong with her... At least, outwardly. She was clearly in pain.

"S-Steven, that gem's not stable!" Pearl said. "Let us bubble her before she turns on you!"

Clenching her fists, Apatite strode towards the gems, only stopping when she reached the water in the fountain.

"My name is APATITE! And you can't keep us prisoner any longer!"

"Oh yeah?" Amethyst asked, cracking her whip. "You and what army?"

_"Thisss_ army!"

Apatite raised her arms, but nothing happened. For a moment, she looked confused. Apatite was not alone in the confusion, as an awkward silence set over the group.

"I... What? Where are they?"

She tried to raise her arms again. The Crystal Gems laughed at her when again, nothing happened.

"Are you trying to summon the baby centipeetles?" Amethyst snorted.

"Yeah, but it's not working..." She frowned.

"Try pulling them out from your gem." Amethyst suggested. "Maybe they're like your weapon."

"Amethyst!"

"Don't give _advice_ to her!"

"Right. What I _really_ was saying was that you should try punching yourself. Right in the gem."

"Thanks." Apetite said. "I uh, I mean, STRATEGIC RETREAT!"

The gem spat in the other's direction, hoping that this would at least allow her to scare them. Apatite picked up Steven, and jumped clear across the fountain. She ran towards the exit where the stairs were. The sound of pursuit followed not far behind. She was faster than the other gems though, and much taller to boot. Apatite didn't bother waisting time with the stairs. She leaped down them head-first, soaring through the air like a rocket. Before she could make impact with the ground, she rolled and got up to her feet without ever stopping.

Behind the fountain was a hedge maze. It stretched far beyond ever her head. Apatite made a mad dash through the maze, turning left and right and then left again without thinking on where to go. They met no dead ends though. Before the gems had arrived, she had been inspecting the maze and surveying the area. The maze stretched far out, until it reached the cliff. If they warped, the gems would reach them. Warping was not an option at this rate, it was just too risky. This meant that their only escape was straight downwards, where the cliff was.

Once they had made enough progress into the labyrinth of bushes, Apatite slid down against a hedge, setting Steven down with her. The boy was panting, even though she had been the one that was doing all of the running for him. Both gems continued to pant for a little while longer, grinning excitedly at each other.

"T-they'll never find us in here!" Steven said.

"Shhh! They'll hear us!"

The gem pressed a finger to her own mouth. When they both stopped making noise, the sound of voices could be heard, not far off in the distance. The Crystal Gems were still after them, but it would take a bit of work before they ever got anywhere.

"What if they start to climb over the maze?" Steven asked.

Apatite picked up a twig, and she tried to throw it over the maze. Before it could clear the top, a familiar, thorny type of vine shot out of nowhere and crushed the twig. After a moment, it receded again, as if it had never been there in the first place. Steven decided that the plants on Earth were definitely crazy and out to get him for no reason.

A slight rustling noise sounded off to the side. The gem's attention focused to the spot in the hedge, as they waited for something or someone to appear. The leaves started to move. Something was clearly trying to push it's way through the hedge. Apatite pulled back her tongue and bared her teeth, preparing to burn whichever gem decided to make the wrong step.

Steven's eyes were wide with fear. He started to shiver, and was clearly doing his best not to scream. Apatite gave Steven her hand. The boy clung on to it desperately, and squeezed with all of his might. The gem winced a little, but didn't try saying anything. The duo continued to lay in wait, and the sound of someone getting closer grew louder. Just when they thought it could get no closer, it did.

A centipeetle popped out of the hedges. The gems both sagged in relief, and started to breath more easily once again.

"I thought they would've vanished." Apatite said.

"Did you make them earlier?"

"Yes, they've been scouting out the maze for me."

The centipeetle quietly hissed something at Apatite. The gem was surprised to realize that she could still understand what it was saying to her.

"What did he say?" Steven asked.

"They're in the center of the maze."

She replied back to the centipeetle and gave it a pat on the head. It crawled back into the hedge, clearly with a mission in mind.

"What did you say there?"

"They'll keep the others busy."

"So you could say, they're waiting to am _bush_ the group?" Steven asked, gleefully pointing at the bushes.

Apatite snorted at the pun.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that."

"And they just listen to you?"

Apatite stood, and then helped Steven to his feet.

"They have to. I'm they're mother."

"A what now?"

"We can talk later, right now we need to get out of the maze."

Apatite started to walk down one of the maze paths. Steven followed behind her. The boy had no idea where they were going, but Apatite seemed to have a general idea on where she wanted to go. They made countless twists and turns through the maze. To Steven, it just seemed like everything was repeating in a circle. All of the bushes looked the same!

Much to his surprise, they actually made it out of the maze. Well, they made it back to the entrance. While the others would still be lost in the maze, they could run back to the warp! Only, Apatite started to go in the wrong direction. There was a pathway that lead around the maze. The only thing that was past the maze was a cliff. But she seemed to be the one with the plan here, so he decided to keep following her.

Peering over the ledge, Steven saw that it was a very steep drop. After his escapade with the fountain, he wasn't so sure if he wanted to do anything involving heights. Apatite didn't seem to factor in his opion on the matter though. Apatite performed a few stretches, pulling back her arms, and bending her surprisingly limber back. It was almost like she had no spine at all. Come to think of it, when she had been corrupted, she didn't have a spine! So it made sense that she would be flexible now.

With a final crack of her knuckles, the gem asked;

"Are you ready?"

"N-no!"

"Close your eyes then. You won't feel a thing."

Apatite picked up Steven for the umpteenth time. She had to steel her own nerves before leaping down the cliff, but she did so anyways. She landed on one of the rocks protruding from the side. Then she jumped down to another, and then a third. Some of the rocks came loose beneath her feet, but she was still able to make her way down into the valley with no trouble.

The bottom of it was all stone. The same type that had been used to make the fountain. But this kind was unpolished and gritty. A river ran along it. The water was dark and muddy, much unlike the kind that was coming from the fountain. The current here was strong, and the rapids roared. Steven noticeably shied away from the water once she had set him down again.

"What are we going to do now?"

"We'll have to keep moving." Apatite said. "If we warp somewhere, they'll find us."

"How did you know where this place was anyways?"

Apatite stiffened.

"I... Can't... Remember..."

"Whoa! Don't do that again!"

The gem clutched the side of her head, hissing in pain.

"N-no... I-I won't-"

Her figure shifted again. The gem became even taller, and more sleek. Her clothes turned into a long, floaty dress. It was green with brown stripes, and it did not seem to fit her body very well. Then it turned into just a skirt, with a top that seemed to match her better. The gem's hair grew from long to even longer, reaching down to her waist. It almost looked like Amethyst's, but it was much more wild. The bangs growing over her face remained in place though.

"Apatite! Stop thinking about whatever you're thinking about!"

Apatite took in a deep breath, becoming stable once again.

"R-right. Thank you... Steven."

The duo started on their journey once again, placing distance between themselves and the fountain. They followed the flow of the river, knowing that it had to feed into something else. But for the most part, there was no other signs of life. The rocks beneath their feet continued, always varying in size, but never in colour or type. But there were no trees growing, no grass even. The sky seemed to stretch on endlessly though. It was a bright blue, and devoid of clouds. It seemed so vast, and it made them both look small in comparison.

Soon, stone turned into sand. There were still the occasional boulders littering the area, but not many. The river they were following grew no more narrow or wide. It just stayed the same, rolling, brown water. There was nothing growing by it though. Wasn't water supposed to be the sign of life on Earth? Why wasn't there anything here? This place didn't exactly give off kindergarten vibes. It was just abandoned by everyone.

Then, the feeling of being watched started to set in. Both Steven and Apatite made quick glances around the area. Neither of them were sure whether it was just paranoia or if something was really following them. There was nowhere to hide though, unless you counted the occasional boulder they passed. Or the water. Nothing was visible underneath the surface of it after all.

Apatite tried to lighten the mood.

"Do you wanna' piggyback?"

"A what? Does this have to do with you being a mother? What is one of these, _mothers,_ anyways?"

"Jump on to my back."

Apatite crouched and spread out her arms. Steven did as she instructed, and wrapped her arms around her neck. The gem held on to his legs and stretched up to her full height, which was quite a difference for Steven. It wasn't high enough to be scary, but he was now talk enough to see a lot more around him. It was a really big change for someone who was used to all gems being taller than him. Even the tiny gems still held a little bit of height over him.

"So, what is this, _mother_ thing that you speak of?"

"I created those baby centipeetles, thus, I'm their mother."

"And they have to do everything you say?"

"That's only because they're a part of me and have no choice. They share a hive mindset, and I'm the queen. Humans have mothers as well, but they don't always listen to theirs."

"Why not?"

Apatite did not speak right away. She shifted her hold on Steven, and then started to walk again.

"Well, it depends upon the humans. Some don't want to listen to their mothers, others aren't able to. Sometimes they grow up to realize that not everything their mother says is right."

Steven frowned a little, trying to work things out in his head.

"Do... Gems have mothers?"

"Some of them do. At least, the ones that weren't made in kindergartens."

Steven didn't know where or how he was made for certain. But he did know that he was not made in a kindergarten. He knew that Yellow Diamond had some sort of say in his creation as well. Actually, it was more like her informing him that she had decided to create him so he should be grateful that she had.

He was always supposed to listen to her, and do everything that she told him to without question. Did that mean she was his mother? Mothers weren't always right though. And Yellow Diamond was always supposed to be right. Even though her stories about what the Crystal Gems did to others didn't seem correct now.

"So two mothers make a new human?"

"No. Humans need a mother and a father. With gems, it's a bit harder to explain because we don't have the same reproductive-"

"What's a father?"

"They also help in making new humans."

"It takes two of them?! Why is this so confusing?"

"You most likely have a father, and her mother gave you her gem."

"What?"

"You'd have to have gotten your human from somewhere."

"What?!"

Apatite realized that Steven was starting to sound nervous.

"'Smatter?"

"How did you know?" He quietly asked.

"Centipeetle senses." She grinned. "You feel like a gem and a human at the same time."

"A-and you don't care?"

"You had the power to fix me, and did. Why would I?"

"B-but-"

"I don't even know what side of the war I was on any more. Why would I care about you being half a gem?"

Steven tucked his chin on top of her head.

"I've only got half the powers of a real gem. I'll never be strong enough."

"You have the best of both worlds Steven. You're strong in the human way and the gem way."

"But I want to be strong in the _real_ way."

"You are."

"But-"

"You healed me. As far as I know, you're the first being to ever fix a corrupted gem."

The duo went quiet. The only thing to be heard was the crunching of sand underneath Apatite's feet. The sun was starting to set now as well. The endless blue horizon became streaked with different oranges and pinks. The air grew colder, and the sand began to loose it's earlier warmth.

"Apatite?"

"Yes?"

"Does thinking about yourself hurt?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry for trying to ask questions before."

"'S fine. You couldn't have known Steven. I as good as died in that war. I just don't want to think about what happened before everything. Nothing is happy once you've been through that kind of stuff. Everything reminds you of it..."

"So you're not letting yourself remember?"

"Nope."

Steven wriggled a little. His legs were starting to fall asleep, and Apatite's hair was starting to tickle his face too much. Apatite didn't seem to mind, even as he accidentally pulled her hair. The gem was strong though, even now. She was a real warrior gem. One who didn't like the what had happened during the war. Not like the veterans on Home World.

It was an outlook that Steven had never really been faced with before. Being a gem warrior, serving the Home World, that was supposed to be the greatest honour of all. Only the best of the best were able to fight in actual combat. He should be glad that he was going to grow up to be one. Fighting for them should be amazing. And if he died, he would die with honour. But Apatite didn't have that point fo view. If anything, the events that had occured left her scarred. She didn't want to talk, or even remember the things that had happened. So much to the point where she nearly corrupted again. Had the war really been that bad?

"My other friend said that being in your gem for a long time makes you forget who you really are. You start to do things that you never would've ordinarily done, because you've changed."

"Oh did she?"

"It seemed kinda' scary."

"Not to me."

Apatite's replies seemed to become shorter and shorter with everything that Steven said. Steven didn't know if she was uncomfortable with him talking at all, but there was nothing else they could really do. It was nice to talk to someone who didn't want to bubble him all the time, or had to make up sentences word-for-word each time.

"Apatite?"

"Steven."

"I don't like thinking about myself either."

"I know Steven. I know..."

* * *

"We have to find them again!"

"We have no idea what kind of a threat Apatite poses. She's a newly reformed gem with unfamiliar powers."

"Plus she already hates our guts. That's like, a new record."

The Crystal Gems were still fighting their way through the hedge maze. It seemed like with each and every turn they took, there was another centipeetle waiting in ambush. This wouldn't have been a problem. Centipeetles were rather weak on their own, even if they did cause problems by burning through things and eating a lot.

But with the small width of the maze, it was harder to fight against them. There was no way for the gems to dodge any of the acid sprayed in their direction, and the centipeetles seemed to enjoy slithering past them, thus forcing the gems to turn around once more. The monsters were truly having an fun time making fools of them, ans the gems were starting to loose their tempers.

"Apatite is volatile." Garnet said.

The fusion punched a centipeetle, sending it flying through the air. The vines above snared the monster and poofed it.

"The longer we leave them, the stronger she'll get!" Pearl said.

"She doesn't want to think about her past though. If we can remind her of it, chances are she'll return to being corrupted."

"I still-" Pearl impaled a monster that got too close for comfort. "-don't like this. I don't think he healed her so much as he..."

"Steven _did_ fix her. In the human way. Apatite doesn't want to think about the war, so becoming friends with him would allow her to forget."

"But if a gem doesn't think about themselves, then they can't reform! They won't know who they want to be or what their physical form should manifest into! Corruption isn't linked to that though! Right?"

"He helped her make new memories that weren't connected with what happened to her before this. Apatite is not the same gem who was corrupted during the war. She has created a new personality based upon her experiences with Steven. One that was strong enough to reform."

Pearl speared another centipeetle, and gave a huff of annoyance.

"Honestly! How many of these things are there?"

Amethyst snapped a centipeetle's jaws shut and then stomped on it's head.

"Maybe they're just making more of them!"

"Well, in that case, it would be better to run away from them."

The gems looked between each other. Then they decided to do exactly that. They reached the warp pad. Eventually. The group was still covered in scratches and burns after the event, but they had still made it through the maze in what could be considered one piece. They'd just have to start looking for Steven and Apatite tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Normally I don't post my ANs at the end of a chapter, but I felt the need to do so here as I didn't want to take away from the moment where Steven decided on a name for Apatite. Plus it means throughout the whole chapter, people are like "wtf is an apatite" and they feel compelled to look it up! But lo' and behold, there is a copy-and-pasted Frankenstein's monster of apatite and it's various healing properties and symbols! Is that handy or what? Actually, come to think of it, this AN is going to get in the way of people who will read this story in the future... My words (And the shameless Internet C/Ping) are will probably break the readers mood... Just like this chapter's title. I keep looking at the title of this chapter and laughing at it's stupidity. I finally got Steven to make puns and it's at one of the least approprate places in the story. Not only that, I manage to incorporate it into the chapter title... I'll probably rename it or I won't be able to take this story seriously. I'll just stop talking now. Even though I really do enjoy writing long author's notes that literally serve no function to the reader. I've been good with this story though. Only two or so chapters have me rambling for no reason...
> 
> Apatite: Is supposed to help communication, and aid people to overcome sadness and grief. It is also assists in the blending of one's old life with the new. It has an uplifting energy, and makes one feel better after long illnesses, heart-break, painful memories of the past, and/or "down" times in one's life. It stimulates hope and courage. Green apatite in particular is said to promote a humanitarian outlook and service to others.


	17. The Letter S

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been confirmed by the Crewniverse that Lapis' weapon is her control over water and wings. 
> 
> Also, a new thought. Remember how there's that gem inside of Lion's mane? What if the upcoming episode "Monster Reunion" involves that one instead of the centipeetle? After all, it could count as half a reunion as well...

"Steven. Steven wake up!"

Steven was shaken awake by Apatite. The boy groggily opened his eyes, before shielding them with his arm. The sun was shining right in his face. It was way too bright. After some time to adjust, he opened his eyes again. Steven sat up, and let his memories catch up to him. He had healed Apatite, they had managed to escape yet again. Now they were still in the middle of this desert area. They passed the same landscape over and over again, and yet, they were still going. There was nothing around them for miles.

"What is it?"

"I think we're being followed." Apatite said.

Steven groaned.

"But there's nothing around us!"

"It still feels like it though."

Yawning, he nodded in agreement with the gem.

"We should probably start walking anyways."

"No. Steven listen."

Apatite stopped talking. Steven listened for whatever had caught Apatite's attention. But he did not hear anything. Even the river they had been following seemed to be rather quiet. Was Apatite just imagining things, or was she able to hear something that he couldn't? Maybe it was just paranoia after their encounter with the other gems yesterday, and the day before that.

"I still don't hear anything."

"The sand is rustling. Like something's walking across it."

"Can gems turn invisible?"

"Not the ones we just fought."

"Maybe there's something underneath the sand."

"It could be."

Apatite kneeled down on the ground. She pressed the side of her head against it. Then she tapped a few times at different spots on the ground. It didn't seem to do much though. Apatite didn't hear or realize what the thing following them might be. Frowning, she got back up to her feet and shook the sand out of her hair.

"I think it's safe to hang around here a little longer. If this thing hasn't hurt us yet, then it can't be too bad."

"What can we even do here?" Steven asked.

"Well, I think you could use a little training."

"Warrior training?"

His training from before had always been very strict. Steven found that it was the one thing that he really didn't miss when it came to home. He always had to be so focused on what he was learning, perfecting everything that he had been taught. The only problem was that he was still usless in a fight against a real gem, even after all that he had been through. His muscle memory and coordination wasn't the greatest as well.

Because of that, there was always a lot of pressure put on him. He had to do everything just right or else. And not to forget, physical training was always exhausting. He got time to rest, but sometimes it didn't feel like he was getting enough of it. He was weak and too soft. The physical form of gems wasn't supposed to have an affect on how strong their fighting was. Yet to him, it seemed like he wasn't built for fighting.

Steven just wanted to make Yellow Diamond proud, prove to everyone that he could help defend the planet with everything he had ben taught. But all he had learned seemed to go nowhere most of the time. It made him start to question whether his intended purpose was really supposed to be a gem warrior or not. Shouldn't it come to him with ease? Be something more natural for him to learn?

"Only so you can defend yourself better if I'm not around." Apatite said.

The gem ruffled his hair, and Steven instantly felt better.

"Oh. Ok! What do I do first?"

Apatite glanced around their surroundings. Then she said;

"Go get one of those rocks."

The rocks she was referring to were by the edge of the river. They all came in different sizes, and were starting to vary in type the farther they travelled. Steven hesitated when he realized that he would have to get closer to the water if he wanted to get a rock. But, he had been given an order. If he was supposed to grab a rock, then he would go near the water and get one!

Now if only he could tell his legs the same thing. They seemed to be intent on keeping him frozen in place. The longer Steven focused on the river, the more he didn't want to get close to it. There could be an undertow, or the water could be very deep! And the Earth had things that lived in the water. What if they tried to attack him like the crazy plants had?! It was too dark to see anything beneath the surface as well! What if he fell in and Apatite could see him?! What if the water was out to get him?! What if-

"Steven?"

"I'll get it." He said. "J-just give me a sec'."

"Is something wrong?"

"N-no, no. I just need to uh, prepare myself."

"Steven."

"I-I'm afraid of the water ok?"

He waited for the gem to tell him to get over it, reprimand him for being weak. Or even worse, laugh at him for it. When she didn't, the boy curiously looked over at her. Apatite didn't seem fazed by this at all. She didn't seem to think it was funny or that his input didn't hold any weight. After an agonizing moment of silence, Apatite spoke again.

"Steven, this planet and everything on it is mainly made of water."

"I still don't like it!"

"The water here's perfectly safe." She said. "Just try sticking your foot in. Nothing will happen, I promise."

The gem started to walk closer to the river in the hopes that he would follow. Steven didn't though, remaining still and crossing his arms.

"No way!"

"I'll even hop in with you!"

Apatite grabbed her skirt and pulled it up to her thighs. Then the gem stepped into the river, and waded out until the water reached her knees. The gem's brown-green skin easily blended into the water. Apatite waved over at Steven, still trying to persuade him into joining her in the water. But so long as he had a say in it, he was not going to go anywhere near it.

"See?" Apatite asked. "It's perfectly s-"

With a splash, Apatite vanished underneath the water. There was no trace of her beneath the surface. Steven ran towards the river, and without thinking, stepped into the water as well.

"Apatite!"

Suddenly, Apatite emerged from the water, dripping wet and coated with globs of mud. In her mouth was a fish, which continued to flop around as it tried to escape her grasp. The gem let go of the fish and held on to it by the tail. With her mouth no longer occupied, the gem smiled.

"So you changed your mind?"

"Where did you go?" Steven asked.

"I saw a fish."

Apatite triumphantly held out the fish she had caught for Steven to see. She was clearly proud with her latest catch. It was still struggling to get out of her hand, and it nearly smacked him in the face. But Steven didn't care. So long as Apatite was still safe, everything was fine.

"I thought something got you!" He sniffled.

"Well, are you at least over your fear of water now?"

Steven looked down at his feet. Or at least, where his feet would be if he could see them. Yelping, the boy grabbed on to Apatite's waist. The gem stumbled a little, surprised by the sudden additional weight of Steven. She caught herself and Steven before they could take a backwards tumble into the water again. All while holding on to her fish for dear life. There was no way she was going to loose breakfast. Not if she could help it.

"I'll take that as a no."

Wading back to the shore, she dropped Steven back on dry land again, along with the fish. Steven felt his stomach twist when he saw another fish. After his first experience with them, he wasn't exited to eat another. Even though he was really hungry at this point. It was a feeling that he had only realized existed once he had eaten for the first time. When he had been on nutritional supplements, he had never realized that he was hungry. Or that there had been anything different about the way his body got its energy in the first place.

The sun quickly dried Steven off. But Apatite remained in the water. She was searching for even more fish to eat. Every now and again, she would dive underneath the surface of the river, and return with another fish in hand. Or in most cases, her mouth. She'd throw them on to the river bank. Steven made sure they didn't escape, but also avoided touching them as much as possible.

Once she had caught a "decent" amount of fish, that was to say, what must've been half of the fish in the river, Apatite stopped. The gem shook herself dry. It caused her already wild hair to stick out even more. Apatite sat down on a rock and then picked up one of the fish. Steven looked away before he could watch her ear it. His appetite may have been lost to begin with, but he still didn't want to watch.

"You should eat."

"I'll pass."

"Fine. But if we don't find any food soon, you'll have to eat some."

Apatite finished off the rest of the fish, and then got to her feet.

"Let's resume training then." She said. "Go get me five of those rocks."

"Before you said only one rock!"

"I changed my mind."

Apatite smiled as Steven went to pick up the rocks like he was told. The gem did not even hesitate when reaching near the water to pick one of the stones up. So much for not being over his fear of water. All it had taken was a little reassurance and some help to get him over it. She winced a little when the boy seemed to realize what he was doing. Steven jerked his hand away from the river, accidentally dropping the stone with a splash. Maybe he wasn't completely over the fear.

But they were getting somewhere.

* * *

"THIS IS GETTING US NOWHERE!"

The scientist retreated from the room, but not before Yellow Diamond was able to hit her in the back of the head with the proposal. She still could not believe that Steven was still in absentia! It had been weeks since he had first gone missing, weeks! The reprogrammed peridot had not reported anything of interest! Other than a red eye going down. But those were unreliable. The next upgrade for them wouldn't be around for at least a few years! Years which couldn't be wasted when it came to Steven!

The peridot had been reprogrammed for the sole purpose of finding him! She had the information, and would know how to react if she found Steven while inspecting the planet. A specific mission tracking him was out of the question, and always had been though. No one outside of a small group were actually aware of what he was. Even Zircon, a gem who had served her faithfully over the years did not know all the exact details of Steven's ultimate purpose.

The peridot should've been able to scout ahead and detect any gem activity. But she had turned the command "scan for gem activity" into "follow usual safety procedures when visiting unfamiliar territory." The idiotic incompetent was actually focusing on the kindergarten there, the kindergarten of all things! It was absolutely painful!

They had no idea where Steven actually was, and their method for retrieving him was more focused on a pet project! And they had no idea what the forces on Earth were like at this point. What if they had utilized the half of Rose Quartz that remained there? Had they found a way to make a weapon out of her gem? Something even stronger than they'd be able to stand up to?

The sheer, gross, incompetence that leaked from this all was unbearable! They were getting nowhere, absolutely nowhere! So much so to the point that one of the scientists had the gall to suggest the simply grow another Rose Quartz, steal another human being's DNA, and successfully create another Steven! As if it were all that simple for them to do in the first place! It had taken years of countless mistakes and slip-ups before they actually achieved the result they had today! An so long as Steven was half-human, years would not be an amount of time they could waste!

Papers were scattered everywhere across the floor now. Pinching the bridge of her nose, the gem gave a long sight. There were important research papers currently littering the floor. Papers with data that was the highest order of classified and not to be spoken of. The data was recorded on her own, personal computer as well, but the scientists only had access to the physical, hard copies of their notes.

She couldn't very well call in one of the scientists to pick these up now. Those bumbling fools would all be too frightened and end up loosing a crucial piece of information by accident. Both Zircon and a maintenance gem were out of the question. That happened to leave her with a grand total of choices to pick from.

She picked the easier of the two. Even if the one she chose was going to leave her in a worse mood. But she was above picking up papers from off of the floor. Both literally and figuratively. There was a button hidden on the surface of her desk. To any other gem, it just looked like a part of the patterned stone surface. She pressed it, and clearly commanded;

"Steven, pick up all of these papers."

"Yes Ma'am."

A holographic Steven flickered into existence. This one was special though. He was solid, if not a little hollow on the inside. He was coloured instead of the standard blue that was used for professional gem business. And naturally, he could interact with his surroundings and talk. He had a larger vocabulary than most holograms of course. He was a stand-in seeing as the real Steven was missing. If everyone discovered that he was missing, the entire planet would be willing to start a war with whoever looked at them funny.

There was a knock at the door, and then her secretary announced herself.

"The head of law enforcement wishes to speak with you."

"Enter."

The door opened, and a gem stepped inside. Right away she gave an elaborate bow, and did not look up until given the indication to. The head of law enforcement was a standard onyx, and was unremarkable in every way possible. They had simple, grey, colour schemes, and had plain features. This current one was actually a little taller than her, but she managed to make eye contact without looking like she was staring down condescendingly.

They tweaked the gem model every now and again when a replacement was needed, but didn't bother to trifle with it too often. They were all little more than mindless puppets for the most part. They reported any disturbances amongst their workers without hesitation and had a strong, blind sense of justice. Rather ironically, they saw the world in black in white. Even though their colour scheme was grey...

Yellow Diamond almost smiled at the thought. But the pressing headache of everything that had been going on stopped that before it started. Everything was such a convoluted, tangled mess at this point that smiling seemed to be out of the question. Plus, smiling in front of other gems seemed to terrify them into silence for some reason. Not that that was her problem to deal with. At least, most of the time.

"What is it that you need?"

"There's a gem who's been requesting to see you. One who claims to have been off the planet for the past five thousand years."

Yellow Diamond was already bored with the conversation and they had barely gotten to the gist of things yet.

"Not possible."

"That's what we told her."

"Why was she detained?"

"She had flown on the planet from a restricted area."

"On a ship?"

"Her weapon is a pair of wings."

"Any other infractions?"

"She has no form of identification or trackers on her. None of us recognize the gem model off the bat, so we requested a copy of the encyclopedia. We're not sure if it's been approved yet."

Ah yes, the Rose Quartz encyclopedia. Only a few gems were able to get their hands on a copy of one. Even then, the book had been through a great deal of heavy censorships and omission. Some entries had to be rewritten completely. If it wasn't so useful in circumstances like these, then she would've banned and destroyed it outright. Well, that and the elders would never allow that request. But they were still continuing to loose their sway. Ever so slowly loosing it...

"Which restricted area?"

Onyx glanced around and awkwardly shuffled in her spot.

"You know uh, _that_ one."

Gems seemed to have such a hard time mentioning the place. They had not taken the loss of the war easily of course. A whole score blemished by a single planet. Some didn't even consider it a "real war" just because they had lost it. It was almost like the name was a complete taboo. No one called it by name. But it was a no-brainer as to which planet she was referring to

"Why does she want to see me?"

"Some bogus story about your student being held prisoner on the planet."

The holographic Steven was still busy cleaning up the papers scattered across the floor. The gem figured that it as good as proved her point. But Yellow Diamond realized that she now had an inside source that would give information that was actually useful. Hopefully her ego and writing skills were better as well.

Throughout her short, miserable life, that idiotic peridot had done absolutely nothing for her. Yellow Diamond made a mental note to have the peridot deactivated. Perhaps an excuse of her not being able to "handle" the "upgrade" she had received? Ah yes, that would do nicely. The poor peridot system wouldn't have been able to fully understand the much more complex data it had access to and was defective and inefficient. It seemed like her shard would be used in a new cluster after all...

Recalling that she was in the middle of a conversation with someone, Yellow Diamond spoke again.

"Press her for information."

"But she doesn't have a-"

"Use the less efficient methods if you must!" She hissed. "You are dismissed!"

The gem nodded and gave a salute. Then she sharply turned on her heel and marched out of the room. With that headache out of the way, Yellow Diamond felt a little more relieved. They'd finally make some more progress with things! And it was above time too! Once they received a confirmation on the forces of Earth, she would know how much force needed to be used. At last, things were starting to go her way once again.

There was a slight tugging at her leg. The gem instinctively sliced through the source with her fist. She connected with nothing though. The gem looked down and realized that the holographic Steven was staring up at her. Of course, she had forgotten that he was in the room. And that he had a great deal of his personality. A quick glance at her desk showed that all of the papers had been neatly stacked on top of it.

"You are dismissed as well." She said.

"I must finish my assigned task."

"Yes. You have. And now you are dismissed."

"I must finish my assigned task."

The gem felt a flicker of annoyance. As if the original wasn't already a pain to deal with, now his hologram was starting to retain some of that as well!

"Your command was to pick up all the papers." She repeated. "And that task is complete. You may leave."

"I must finish my assigned task."

Yellow Diamond waved a hand in front of the hologram's face. It didn't react to this at all, and kept standing uncomfortably close to her. Hadn't she told her technician to give it a wider range of things to say? He could say more than the same thing over and over again. Was it glitching? Overheating? What had happened to it?

"I must finish my assigned task."

The holographic Steven pointed at something on the ground. Yellow Diamond realized that he was standing on the last paper in the room. She instinctively reached down to pick it up without thinking. A quick glance over it revealed that it was not one of the scientists' notes, but rather a copy of a different report. It was an order for a new batch of jaspers. Once it had been proven that they could successfully fell a Rose Quartz, extras instantly had to be made.

And yet they had still lost...

The page was double-sided. Here was where the actual notes from the scientists was. If one could even call it that. Gems picked nicknames certainly, but they were usually abbreviations and such. None of them had last names so to speak of. Steven may have been the name that human called him (Not that he would remember that.) But they hadn't picked it like that deliberately. What kind of gem had a human nickname anyways?

Steven wasn't a human name, oh goodness no.

Steven was an acronym.

There were several different crossed out ideas for it. Resurrection, amalgam, collusion, hybrid, secondary, component... There were quite a few descriptive words. They were all relayed in no kind of order though. All meaningless on their own. The only circled word on the page had the starting letter in his name. Quite fitting really when she thought about it.

The S in Steven stood for super-weapon.

* * *

Amethyst was just leaving the temple when she saw it. The thing streaked through the sky, and landed on the beach. A cloud of sand rose in to the air. When it cleared, she saw what was there. The tiny, green, spherical thing sprouted legs. It started to climb up the hill to where she stood. Was the thing some kind of gem monster? A satellite knocked out of orbit? What was it?

The thing climbed towards the warp pad. It seemed to inspect one of the cracks in the warp pad. Then, a small slot opened up on it. The thing sprayed some sparkly, green substance on to the crack. It seemed gelatinous at first, but then it hardened, and broke off. Revealing that the spot was now completely fixed.

The thing jumped on to the warp pad. But before it could go anywhere, Amethyst caught it with her whip, and pulled it away.

"Uh, guys? You might wanna' come see this."


	18. Rosie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late update. I've been studying ahead before I go back to school. (Which will be next Wednesday for me, because the Tuesday after Labour Day is just orientation for new students.) Also FF was down all of yesterday, so that wasn't doing me any favours. Excuses, excuses... Hopefully the length of this chapter will help make things up.
> 
> Now, to answer two guest reviews (From FF net):
> 
> 1\. (I wrote this note before the entire site went down. Now my traffic graph doesn't show the number of views I received during the time it was down.) No. My traffic graph does not work for anything and it is driving me insane. I really hate how understaffed FF is. The only way to contact them is through email. The only ones they actually read are requests for character filters and new fandoms. That's why this website takes months to repair bugs and never deals with abuse reports sent to them. 
> 
> 2\. No. There is no UG cross-over planned for this story. In it's place, there will be a painfully obvious reference to the show. Just like the one for Gravity Falls back in chapter eleven, and the Rick and Morty reference. (This one was much more subtle, I don't think anyone's spotted it yet, so I won't say where it is. Internet cookies to the one who spots it. I made the GF one really obvious because I got a kick out of the irony.)

The sun was beginning to set when Steven woke up. It painted the sky brilliant reds and oranges, before blending away into pink. Twinkling stars began to appear, minute and insignificant against the desert landscape. As the temperature cooled, a thin layer of moisture formed on the ground and Steven. He wiped his hands off on his shirt, and then sat up.

Night time was growing closer, but the desert was only starting to come to life. Once the searing heat of the day had faded, other living things came out. Insects dug their way out of the still warm sands, lizards and snakes came out of their burrows, and other unfamiliar creatures pulled themselves up on to the shore of the river.

Apatite had warned him that many of the creatures here were venomous, and that he should try to avoid them at all costs. So he made sure not to disturb the sands too much when he got up. Days were incredibly short on the planet. Often times he would fall asleep, only to discover that another new day had begun. Steven was used to sleeping six and a half times exactly during one day on Home World.

Apatite didn't need to sleep, so Steven wasn't very surprised to discover that he couldn't see or hear her. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and the sticking sand from his arms and legs. Then, shielding his eyes with his forearm, Steven squinted against the bright sun in search of her. Apatite was by the river. Her tall figure was barely a black shape against the horizon, but he could see her moving. Looking for fish probably. She seemed to like doing so every time they stopped for the day.

Over the time they had spent together, Steven got used to the routine that had formed. Apatite got something to eat, he was force-fed another fish, and then they started with his training. They stopped when it became too hot out. Apatite would grab more fish, and they would start to walk, still following the direction of the river's flow. Then they'd rest, before repeating. It was a good schedule if not a little boring. Plus, it was much better than the one he had on Home World.

Before he always had to remember dates and times for certain classes, where they would be held, what warp pad to take and the materials he would need. This was better to handle, and easier for him to figure out. Steven actually felt like he was making a lot more progress this way compared to before. They had a schedule to stick to, and he felt ready for it every time they did it. Steven figured that he may as well get a head start on Apatite.

He splayed his legs so that they formed a line, a position that Apatite called a split. He couldn't push his legs as far as she could, but he had made a little progress. His split was more like a wonky line than anything. Keeping in position, Steven stretched his hands out to one foot, and held it there. Apatite could touch her foot without any problems, but he still struggled to do exactly what she did. Steven kept reaching for his toes until the muscles in his lower back started to feel stretched. He did the same with the other foot, and repeated the process a few times.

Steven started on the next round of stretches, and Apatite joined him not long after. For some strange reason, she did not have any fish with her. She didn't think it was important though, because she didn't say anything about it. They warmed up in silence, with only the occasional grunt effort escaping them. Once they had finished, Steven got to his feet.

"Alright! So what are we doing today?"

Apatite wagged a finger at him.

"Ah! You forgot to do something!"

"But-"

"None of it. Try to touch your toes!"

Groaning, Steven bent over and started to reach for his toes.

"Ah! Keep those legs straight! Don't bend your knees!"

Steven did as he was told. His finger tips could barely brush past his ankles though, and he straightened up once again.

"I can't do it!"

"That's because you've got this chub in your way." Apatite said, giving his stomach a tiny pat. "But you wouldn't be the adorable Steven you are without it."

"Will I ever be able to touch my toes?" He sighed.

Apatite shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. Gems have different fighting skills Steven. I don't expect you to be able to do everything that I can. Touching toes won't fell foes."

Steven smiled, and Apatite mirrored his with a toothy grin of her own.

"Hey, that rhymes."

"Yes it does."

"So, how come you didn't catch any fish today?"

"Because you're the one getting us fish today."

Steven looked over at Apatite, and then at the river, and then back at Apatite again. Steven rubbed the back of his neck, brushing off some of the sand that still clung on to him. Was she reay trying to get him back into the water again? Was this her way of making a bad joke? He didn't even like eating fish! How was he supposed to catch one?!

"Uh, Apatite, isn't that a little, impossible for me to do?"

Apatite was already walking in the direction of the river. She glanced over her shoulder at him and waved a hand.

"Of course not."

For a moment, he thought about arguing with her on the idea, but he decided to just follow her instead. Apatite perched on one of the many boulders on the rocky bank, and peered over into the water. Steven sat down next to the gem, and craned his neck to look at rhe water as well. He didn't see or sense anything that she did. How was he supposed to see any fish if it was nearly dark out, and the river was a muddy brown?

"I don't see any fish."

"Look over there."

Apatite pointed to a swirling pool of water that was trapped between the bank and the rocks. Brown, foamy bubbles had collected in the spot, and were slowly stirring around in a circle. Once or twice, the foam's direction seemed to change slightly, as if something had pushed it out of the way. Then it resumed it's usual cycle again.

"See how it moves along a different path some of the time?"

"Yes."

"That means there's a fish swimming near the surface, stirring it up."

"Oh, I get it. But what about the places where there isn't any foam?"

"You can't see it from here, but their scales are metallic. They'll shine whenever the light catches them, even through this mud."

"So I look for the fish, and then I grab it?"

Apatite nodded.

"But you have to be fast about it. They're good at slipping away."

"Could you give me an example?"

"Sure thing!"

Stepping farther out on the bank, she searched for something to catch. Within seconds, she had grabbed a fish single-handedly. Apatite carried it over to Steven, and then set it down on the boulder. It was about the size of his foot, and it didn't seem to have teeth of any sort. The fish only squirmed a little before going limp. The stripe along it's sides was what made it shine, even through the water.

Hesitantly, Steven tried to pick up the fish with one hand. The fish was slimy and cold, it seemed to ooze in his hands. The fish nearly slid out of his hand, but he caught it before it could get back to the water. Steven couldn't quite reach all the way around it's middle with one hand, but he could still grip it without too much difficulty.

"Ok, now all I need to do is catch one of these."

Steven took a deep inhale, and then let the breath out. He edged his way closer to the river. It wouldn't be so bad. All he had to do was stick his hand into the water and grab a fish! It would be so quick that he wouldn't even realize he had done it. It would all happen so fast that he wouldn't realize at first that he was being pulled under the water and being held there by the hands. They'd try to keep him there, trapped underneath the water until his lungs were filled with the ocean, until his nose was snapped and the water was murky with blood and he could no longer swim and floated there helplessly.

Would he go back to his gem if he drowned?

What if a day came where he couldn't reform?

"If you don't have a fish, you need to actually pull your hand out of the water?"

Opening his eyes, Steven let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He was surprised to see that he had actually stuck his hand into the river. He experimentally wiggled his fingers, letting the cool water pass through them. Steven realized that it was oddly calming, even if the water felt cold and slippery like a fish.

Slowly, he drew his hand back to himself. The boy stared at it in fascination, almost awed at the sight of it. Nothing had happened to him. The hands had not pulled him back underneath. There was nothing lying there in the depths, waiting to keep him there forever. The water... Was safe... He was safe... And he was alive!

"Try again."

Crawling on his hands and knees, he watched the water for any tell-tale signs of fish. All the water looked the same. Steven didn't know if it was a fish stirring the water, or just the currents that pushed the water along. How was he supposed to tell the difference between all of the water? Was a fish there? No, he couldn't reach that, even if it was a fish.

When he tried reaching out for a different fish, his fingers collided with a rock, hidden beneath the clouded surface of water. Hissing in pain, he grabbed his knuckles and shook his hand. A few spots turned red on his fingers, but the pain quickly dimmed again. Eventually, Apatite pointed out a fish to him. Without a moment's hesitation, he struck. Steven felt the tail of something scaly slip out from between his fingers, leaving him empty-handed.

"I was so close that time!" He said. "I felt it!"

They continued to wait for another chance to catch something. A full moon had risen, and peeked out occasionally. The sky cleared again, lighting the world in a surreal, silvery glow. It casted strangely, shaped, shadows across the rocks, and caught itself in the water. The entire world seemed to be still and silent.

Then, Steven saw it. The slight, shiny, glint of something swimming around. It happened again, and a third time. He watched, and was able to get a better picture of what was there. Gradually, the outline of the fish became visible to him. He could see it, just a slightly different shade than the water. It lazily swam in one spot. When Steven reached over the surface to grab it, his shadow followed. It noticed this, and swam away. It didn't move too far though, and he tried to keep his shadow out of the way so it wouldn't notice.

Again he struck, and felt the tell-tale fish slip between his fingers before he could get a hold. Steven huffed in frustration, and threw his arms up into the air.

"Why can't I get that fish?!" He asked. "I felt it and everything!"

"You're getting there." Apatite reassured. "You've only tried four or so times after all."

"Are you sure this isn't just a way for me to get food for you?"

"Oh it is, one hundred and ten percent." She said, nodding. "But it's also a good lesson."

"How is catching a fish a good lesson?"

Apatite got on to her hands and knees as well. She pointed to the same fish that continued to allude Steven.

"The water makes things harder. The fish isn't actually where you think it is. It's a little off to the side because of the refraction. Also, you need to take into consideration where this fish is going to go. The second your hand touches the water, it will try to swim away from your hand. Predicting where it will go is key."

"I have to fake it out?" Steven asked.

"In a way, yes."

"How can you even tell when your eyes are always covered?"

Steven pointed to the gem's bangs, which always remained firmly in place, no matter what Apatite did. Apatite's hair did an excellent job at covering whatever number of eyes she might happen to posses. Steven had no idea what number that could be though. Maybe one, like that sapphire had? He liked to imagine that she had two eyes.

"Because I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry!" Steven said, poking her stomach.

"That's why I know where all the food is." Apatite said.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Get us something to eat already!" Apatite commanded. "I'm hungry."

"Are you ever not hungry?"

"I-I-"

Apatite's figure shuddered, becoming white, directionless matter. She reformed within seconds. The gem pressed her fingers into the rock, making it shatter in places. Apatite collected herself again, and was left with another change in clothing again. Steven had stopped keeping track of what she usually looked like after the first few times this had happened.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Steven said. "Stop thinking about it! Think about me! Steven!"

When Apatite opened her mouth to speak, a centipeetle-esque growl escaped her. The gem stared to cough. She spat out a mouthful of green spit. It dissolved the places where it landed instantly. Apatite regained herself completely after a second longer staying stationary in her spot.

"I-I'm good." She wheezed.

Sighing, Steven wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"Sorry. I didn't realize that would happen again."

"It's fine." She said.

"You sure?"

_"Well..."_

"Is something wrong?"

Apatite averted her gaze. (Or lack thereof.)

_"Maaaybe..."_

_"Apatite!"_

"I'm still hungry."

* * *

Steven had fallen asleep part-way through their journey. Apatite was carrying him piggy-back style already. The first signs came when he started to talk less with her. Then, his grip started to loosen, before he finally fell asleep. Apatite had to lean forwards to an uncomfortable extent to keep him from sliding off her back, but the gem was not too bothered by this.

Not being familiar with the exact needs of humans, Apatite decided that it was best to let him sleep. Steven probably needed the rest after their long night of training as it was. He had eventually caught a fish in the end, but it had slipped out of his hands, and wiggled it's way back into the river before either one could eat it. Which was a shame, but he had still succeeded after a little trial and error.

Apatite was starting to feel the effects of exhaustion as well. Gems didn't need to sleep, but she was starting to feel a little run down. She had not been up and constantly active like this in forever. Her muscles began to ache, while her flexibility seemed more tense and forced than usual. Countless years of stasis would do that to a gem. Just floating there, trapped with nothing to do, nothing to keep her mind distracted from all the bad things that happened. So many terrible, awful things.

Still, she remained head strong, walking until the sun climbed higher into the sky. The desert life soon receded, leaving the landscape bleak and barren. But not quite as empty as she had expected. Not far off in the distance, there was a strange pillar, sticking straight up in the sky. It was attached to nothing, and there was no sign of any other buildings around it.

Going against her better judgement, Apatite stopped following the river, and walked towards the pillar. All the while, the sun grew stronger, and the once flat sand started to rise up in dunes. It was not a mirage. She sat down in the shade that the pillar cast, placing Steven down next to her.

Apatite let out a long sigh. It did nothing to move the bangs that stuck in front of her forehead. The gem tried sitting in place until Steven woke up, but it didn't last very long. She was curious as to what the pillar was, and how it had gotten here. Apatite would have loved to investigate, but she couldn't simply leave Steven on his own. Plus, her feet were very tired.

Exhaustion was forgotten when Steven started to stir though. Almost instantly, she got back to standing.

"Huh? Did I fall asleep?" Steven asked.

"Yes."

"Should I get more fish?"

"We've strayed from the path a bit."

Steven sat up in a flash.

"What? Why? Where are we now?"

She pointed to the pillar.

"I want to know what built that."

Pressing his head to it, Steven tapped the surface.

"It feels like it's made out of sand."

"It is made out of sand." She said. "Which shouldn't be possible. Unless some kind of gem-related thing..."

She didn't need to finish her sentence.

"We better do something about it."

"Right. You stay here where there's no trouble."

Steven gave Apatite a mock salute.

"Yes ma'am! I'll stay here and guard the uh, whatever this is."

Apatite started to walk away, but then a thought occurred to Steven. For the past while in the desert, nothing had really bothered him. So long as they kept their distance from the animals that appeared, they were left alone. But what about here, where there might be gem-monsters that could cause harm?

"What if something eats me?"

Apatite smirked slightly, and flicked some of the sweat off of his face.

"Don't worry Wet One. There's nothing out here that can harm you. If there was, I'd eat it before it could get you."

Instantly, he cheered up.

"Oh, ok then! Bye!"

"I'll be back soon."

Farther away from them, the ground started to shake. Then, a new column of sand started to form. Apatite jogged off in the direction of the pillar, hair swaying behind her. Not long after, the pillar Steven was sitting by fell down as well. A new one rose up, this one to his left. It was hot without the shade to protect him, so Steven walked over to the new structure. He curiously tapped it before sitting down. It seemed completely solid.

Something stirred. For a moment, Steven could have sworn he heard a growl. But he knew that he was just imagining things after spending all this time in the desert. The only thing things that posed any danger were sleeping now. Just like he could be. Sleeping seemed like a nice idea actually. He still felt rather tired.

The moment Steven closed his eyes, he heard something shift in the sand. He quickly looked around, but didn't see anything. There was a cloud of dust beginning to rise where Apatite would be at this point. But that didn't seem like the source of the sound. He kept as close to the pillar as he could, making sure to watch out for anything that looked suspicious.

"Nothing can harm me." Steven whispered to himself. "I, am the Wet One."

The sands were moved again. Steven saw a figure dart behind a different wall. When he peeked out from behind his pillar, he didn't see anything. But that didn't mean he was alone. There must be something here with him. The thing that had been watching him and Apatite the entire time.

"Good thing this column is here."

He spoke to soon. Not a second later, the column collapsed back into sand once more, revealing the pink figure behind it. Steven wasn't going to wait and find out what the thing was. He turned to run away, but the ground shook again. A new wall grew in front of him, blocking any form of escape.

"Ah! No, no, no!"

When the thing didn't attack, he looked at it. The thing was the lion. The same pink lion that belonged to the Crystal Gems. The lion he referred to as Lion because Rosie was a stupid name for a lion. Did this mean that the gems were here? What if Apatite was fighting them by herself? He had to get away from this lion so he could help her!

Steven tried to edge his way around the lion. It watched him as he did this, looking uninterested for the most part. Steven was not about to take any chances though, and held out a hand.

"Don't bite!"

The lion, Lion, didn't do anything. Steven tried touching the lion's nose. When it did nothing, he tried petting it's mane. The lion was quick to lay down. It was either harmless, or just very lazy. Steven wasn't sure. He didn't seem to enjoy listening to the other gems, so it could just mean that he was being a lazy guard lion for them. Nothing like the Lions that he knew.

Of course, the Lion part was short for Perihelion. The code name of the scientist who gave him his nutritious supplements. Perihelion wasn't actually a gem type, but she wasn't allowed to tell him his real name. Since she liked using big words, Steven addressed her by the largest word he could pronounce at the time. And it ended up sticking. Perihelion was some kind of space-y scientific thing that he didn't really understand. Also the nick name for her nick name turned out to be an animal from Earth...

"So... Are the other gems here?"

The lion didn't say anything.

"Do you wander off on your own a lot?"

The lion didn't say anything.

"Maybe you should go back to your owners."

The lion lay down, completely unconcerned with the prospect of doing anything of the sort. This didn't stop Steven from attempting to communicate with the lion.

"Lion, don't say anything if I can rub your belly."

The lion didn't say anything, so Steven tried to pet the lion. He turned over on his back, holding his paws in the air. He started to quietly purr, clearly enjoying the attention that he was receiving. Lion's pink fur was incredibly soft, the sand did not even seem to stick to it. Were lions normally pink though? Was he some kind of gem-lion? The creatures of this planet were so diverse he couldn't know for sure.

"Your fur is really soft."

Steven stopped petting the lion for a moment. When he did, Lion nudged his hand with his paw, clearly asking for more appreciation.

"I bet those mean old Crystal Gems never pay any attention to you. That's why you ran away."

Lion yawned. Steven decided that this meant he was agreeing with him.

"Your mane reminds me of Apatite's when she was a centipeetle."

"We have to go warn Apatite!"

Lion's ears twitched. He seemed to understand what Steven was saying. With a yawn, he stretched and stood up. It faced the opposite direction Apatite had gone, and sniffed the air. Lion stared to walk in that direction, clearly having it's own agenda in mind. Steven wondered what it was up to.

"Hey! Apatite's that way!"

Chasing after the lion, Steven tried pointing to where a fight was clearly going on. Clouds of sand were being churned up, and an unnatural cyclone was swirling, and sucking up all of the near-by sand dunes. Whatever was going on there was really intense. Steven wished he could see what kind of monster Apatite was fighting against.

"Lion! Come on! I rubbed your belly and everything!"

To Steven's annoyance, Lion ignored him still. Lion stopped walking when he came to a particularly large sand dune. He started to sniff the ground, sending up clouds of sand. After a little more investigating, he started to paw at the ground. Steven stepped closer to Lion so that he could poke him.

But he realized that the ground beneath his feet was not like the sand. In fact, it felt rather solid when compared to it. He tried jumping up. When he hit the ground, a clanging noise was made. Steven bent over, and brushed away some of the sand. He found the teal-green material of a warp pad.

Just as Steven realized what they had found, the sand wads blown off the surface. The warp pad lit up, and the stream appeared. Steven found himself staring at an equally astonished trio of gems. Everyone was struck speechless, as if they were trying to process what they were looking at.

Steven was the first to react.

Screaming, he ran in the opposite direction of the gems.

"IT'S A TRAP! AN ADORABLE TRAP!"

Steven couldn't out run the gems, but a wall grew out of the sand, blocking them. It collapsed quickly though, as did everything else that had been growing in the desert. But this gave Steven the time he needed to get a head start on them. He was running so quickly that Steven didn't realize Apatite was there until he crashed, face-first into her leg. Stars exploded across his line of vision. The boy staggered backwards, clutching his head in agony.

"What's going ohboywebetterstartrunning!"

The others were getting closer to them, and Apatite knew that there weren't many places they could run to. Then, an idea hit her. Reckless yes, and risky, but it just might work in their favour. Apatite had only just caught the gem that was causing all of the mayhem. She had trapped it in a bubble. It seemed like whenever it touched the sand, it was able to start building up again.

Even though she had finally reached the stupid thing and contained it... If it could give them the edge they needed to escape, or make the others give up, then it would be well-worth it. Scooping up Steven in one arm, and a fistful of sand in the other, Apatite started to run. She popped the bubble as she did so, making sure to catch the pillow before she could loose it. If the other gems got a hold of it and disabled the gem, then it would be useless. If she let it touch the sand she was holding however...

Immediately, the sand trembled. The desert glass returned with a vengeance, stirring up a vicious sandstorm. The gritty bits and pieces tore at all of them, stinging in their eyes and burning as it crashed against them. All of them were forced to keep their eyes closed, blinding them from their target. All of them except Apatite. Even in the midst of the storm, her bangs stubbornly remained in their spot.

Spikes started to grow out of the ground. New walls and staircases were built around them, before shrivelling up and crumbling again. A pillar grew underneath Apatite's feet, lifting her high in to the air. As soon as it stopped growing, it began to fall again. She jumped to a near-by staircase before she could fall with it.

The gem jumped from spot to spot, keeping an eye out for the Crystal Jerks as she did so. Occasionally she could hear their voices over the screaming winds. They were confused and lost, trying to regroup. Good. Maybe she could try picking them off now that they had been divided... No. That was a bad idea. That wouldn't work. She still had trouble fighting. Still too weak... It was better to save fighting for another time.

Apatite leaped towards another staircase. While in mid-air, she realized that it was just about to crumble. For a moment, she was paralysed with fear. She had nothing to grab on to, no place for her to land. She could easily take the fall, even with the painful-looking spikes below. But Steven might not.

_**WHAM!** _

Out of nowhere, she was tackled in the side. The gem felt something furry pass by her before she was pushed out of the sandstorm. Steven's weight escaped her as well. Apatite was so shocked that she nearly let go of the pillow. The gem caught herself before she could make impact with the ground, tucking and rolling. She landed harmlessly in the soft sand. A pink blur passed by her, and the desert glass was pulled from her hand. The storm quickly faded. Apatite was bewildered to see another pink blur pass by her face. It was the lion! It had Steven and the pillow with it now!

"Get back here!"

Apatite ran after the lion and Steven. He was still rubbing sand from his eyes, and didn't seem to know what was going on. The lion roared, a massive ball of light forming in it's jaws. It opened a portal, and easily leaped through it. Apatite managed to jump inside just before it closed again.

The gem was sent tumbling through a confusing kaleidoscope of shapes and colours, before being unceremoniously spat out on the other end. Apatite first. Dizzy and annoyed, Apatite rubbed her jaw as she got to her feet. Much to her surprise, the lion and Steven were still there, no longer running away.

"Apatite! Are you ok?"

Steven ran over to her, and stared at the gem expectantly. His eyes were still red from the sand that had gotten in to them, and his face was flushed.

"What happened?" She groaned.

"Lion saved me!"

Steven proudly pointed to the pink beast that sat in front of them. Even though it had just been through a sandstorm, it looked oddly unruffled and calm. Stupid lion. Taking care of Steven was her job! Not some pink, flowery thing! Her attention was brought back to Steven when he tugged on her shirt.

"When we started to fall, he just came out of nowhere and caught me! And he told me that the Crystal Gems were going to be here!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! Lion's the best!"

Apatite glanced back at the lion.

"It's name is Lion?"

_"His_ name is Lion because the Crystal Mean-Faces call him a girl name." Steven said.

"What's wrong with that?"

"It sounds silly."

Shrugging, Apatite walked up to the lion and took the pillow that it was holding. Apatite bubbled the gem before it could cause any more trouble for them. With the desert glass trapped in it's green-coloured prison, they would all be spared some trouble. Although, it didn't look like they were near any place with sand.

They were standing close to another river. Luckily, this one was rocky and had no sand. All around them, an ornate forest grew. Picture-perfect trees towered above them, and many flowery bushes and decorative grasses grew below. It almost looked like a garden. Expect the area was wild, and looked abandoned. There was however a yellowing, stone path off to the side.

"Let's explore a little. See what's here."

Steven tailed after the gem, taking in his surroundings as they did so. It didn't take very long to find a ledge. The area was very high up, almost like it was floating in the clouds. Actually, they were floating in the clouds. What appeared to be a mountain at first, was actually a floating hill. Other floating hills hovered around as well, all varying in size. Countless, fluffy clouds spread out beneath them like a blanket. Small mountain tops peeked out from between the clouds around them.

The place clearly had been inhabited by gems at one point. Perhaps some kind of temple? But the Earth had reclaimed it again, even if floating hills were not a natural formation on this planet. There must have been some kind of gem device that was holding all of them up still. Did this mean that there might be a warp pad around here? That was something he would like to avoid running into this time around.

"Why is that thing still following us?"

Steven looked back at Lion, who was indeed following them.

"I dunno'. Maybe he's tired of the Crystal Gems." He said. "I don't think they pay a lot of attention to him."

"How do we know it won't lead them to us?"

Steven wondered why Apatite was asking so many questions about Lion, but still answered her question.

"Well, he could have not helped us instead." Steven said. "So he's probably on our side."

"If you say so Steven. If you say so..."


	19. Giant Woman

Deep in the temple, Pearl was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She was staring at the thing that had fallen from the sky. The same thing that Amethyst had found, and broken. It was a spherical robot, with detachable cylinders for legs. Repairing it had been surprisingly difficult for Pearl. The technology on Earth had always been so simple when compared to what she was used to.

The robot was a different story though. But with a little trial and error, she had gotten it to function again. The problem was finding a way to switch it off without using the newly-named "Amethyst Way" of doing things. It was messy and caused more trouble than they needed. Especially during dire times like these.

The substance that filled the robots was some kind of repair-sealant. It was able to quickly and easily repair the small cracks and dents in the warp pads. This shouldn't have been a problem. In fact, it should have been great news that there was a way to stop problems with the warp pads. But they didn't know the source of the robots, how they were getting here, and what their motive was. For this reason, it was important to understand them.

So, while repairs had worked fine, disabling them without the "Amethyst Way" was the problem. No EMPs she made worked on them. The robots seemed to have some sort of back-up source of power. They had to be communicating information somehow, but she had no luck when she tried to override their commands.

"Yo'. What up P?"

Amethyst strode into the room, carrying an armful of even more robots. Pearl felt her eye twitch at the sight of them.

"Amethyst! Can't you see that I'm busy?" She asked. "I have no need for more of these, these things!"

Discarded robots and their parts were scattered everywhere across the floor. There was a ring of free space around Pearl, where she had not tossed anything. Over to her left were more, whole robots, stacked in a neat pyramid. The gem picked up a new robot with her left hand, before she dismantled it with the right. Searching, hoping that she would find something she had missed in the next robot.

"It sure _looks_ like you need more."

"I do not!"

With all the failed attempts that she had been through, Pearl had memorized the exact layout of each robot. She didn't need to look at one to see what she was doing with it. Grabbing a screwdriver, she viciously jabbed the access panel. With a quick snap of her wrist, she pried it open. The piece was sent flying through the air, landing with the others.

"Aw, lighten up Pearl! You've been like all tunnel-vision ever since we found these guys."

Having snapped the tweezers in half a long time ago, the gem used her fingers to pull the first few pieces of hardware from the robot.

"I have to figure out what these things are here for!"

"You've got bigger problems than these things."

Pearl removed the package of sealant from the robot. It was one of the few useful things that had come from this. They could stockpile their own collection of it should they ever need to repair the warps on their own again. It wouldn't hurt to be a little more prepared after all. Even though they now had enough goo to last the Earth's entire lifetime.

"Like what?"

"How about the fact that _your_ lion ran away with Steven, and the desert glass, and that green weirdo?"

"Just because Rosie vanished during the sandstorm, along with the desert glass, Steven, and Apatite, and hasn't been seen since then, it doesn't mean that he helped them escape!"

"Then where is he?"

Pearl waved a dismissive hand.

"Oh, I don't know! Off, wandering somewhere! He's always been like that."

"I told you we should've trained it better."

"You did not!"

"Well, I was thinking about saying it." Amethyst shrugged. "That still counts right?"

"No." She snapped. "Now if you don't have anything useful to say, get out."

"Yeesh, you should really take a break, de-stress a little."

"And how would I do that?"

Amethyst dropped all of the robots she was holding except for one. Before Pearl could try to stop her, she had already crushed it between her fists, spreading goo all over herself and the floor. Pearl gave a sigh of disgust and rolled her eyes.

"Don't do that."

Amethyst crushed another one with her foot. She was now covered from head to toe in the sparkling blue-green substance. Only her eyes and mouth were visible from the mess she had made of herself.

"Why? It's not like you need any more of these." She mocked.

"You're making a mess."

"Hey Pearl, you know what you need?"

From inside the blob of goo, Amethyst widely grinned. She stepped closer to Pearl, and spread out her arms. More food dripped off of her and splattered across the floor. Pearl realized what she was planning. The gem scrambled to her feet and backed away from her.

"A big, messy, hug!"

"Amethyst, no!"

Pearl dodged out of the way. The gem was saved by Garnet, who walked in to the room, and stared down Amethyst.

"We were gonna' hug." Amethyst explained.

"Any progress with these?" Garnet asked, gesturing to the floor.

Placing a hand on her forehead, Pearl sighed.

"None."

Garnet didn't seem surprised by the answer. She gave a half-hearted shrug and said;

"Eh, it's not so important right now."

"What?! Not so important?!" Pearl asked. "What could be more important than finding a way to control these before they become a threat?!"

"Well, your lion did run away with Steven."

Pearl brought her fist down upon the robot. It shattered under the force, spreading goo across the gem's front.

"ROSIE DID NOT RUN AWAY WITH STEVEN! HE HAS NO REASON TO!"

"You _did_ name him Rosie." Amethyst said.

"She's got a point."

Pearl huffed, and stood up.

"Fine! I guess my countless hours of work were all for nothing! All because you two seem to think that..."

Pearl's words faded when she saw it. One of the robots that Amethyst had dropped was starting to move. It scurried out of the room. Then, more of them started to get up as well, all following the same path on their short legs. The gems were shocked into silence, surprised to see that they were getting back up on their own again. Even the robot Pearl had cracked got up on wonky legs, and followed after the rest of them.

The gems went on a mad dash through the temple, following after the robots. They came to the exit, and realized that the robots were all starting to use the warp pad to escape. Amethyst jumped into the stream just before it vanished. Pearl and Garnet followed. Garnet already knew where they were going to be and warped after them. The damaged stream around them was enough to let Pearl realize that they were going to the abandoned warp pad station.

When they arrived, the group realized how many robots there really were. All the ones they had caught and more were working on repairing the galaxy warp.

"What are they doing to the Home World warp?" Pearl asked.

"There's a million of them!"

The robots suddenly jumped off the galaxy warp. The sealant around the once destroyed warp hardened. Then, it crumbled, revealing a brand new warp pad. Garnet grit her teeth, and summoned her gauntlets, preparing to finish the job once again. But then, the warp started to glow, and a stream formed. The fusion grabbed Amethyst and Pearl. Then she leaped behind a pillar and clung on to it. The group peered around it slightly, waiting to see what would emerge.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long amount of time, the stream cleared, revealing a new gem. She was not very tall for a one though. She had a green and black uniform on. It looked completely impersonal, as if she had never been poofed before. Her gem was a bright green, and triangular in shape. It rested square on her forehead, and was protected by the visor that covered her eyes. The gem had oddly geometric hair, that was yellow in colour. She looked rather bored with the situation.

The others all gasped before they could stop themselves. The new gem didn't notice though. She stomped on the warp with her foot, and then glanced around the area. She never looked in their direction, but still remained alert. Then, the gem spoke out loud, obviously talking to a recording device.

"Hmmm..." She mused. "Log date: three hundred twelve: This is Peridot, performing Earth hub maintenance check."

"Peridot." Amethyst whispered. "Her name is Peridot."

"Warp repair a success. Thirty out of seventy-nine flask robonoids deployed and accounted for. Preparing to locate and manually reactivate kindergar-

Kindergarten. Pearl shuddered at the thought of the vile place. What did that gem want to do with it? What were they hoping to do there? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. What if the Home World was trying to restart it after all these years, no longer afraid of the threat they could pose? But why now? After all these years of isloation, why would they chose now to revisit Earth? What was it they knew that she and the others didn't? It was their planet now!

The Home World had signed the armistice, staring that they were to be left alone. So why was it that they were choosing to break it now? Pearl wanted nothing more than to leap out and take the new gem by surprise. But it was too risky, she might be much stronger than them. Apparently the "Amethyst Way" of doing things was starting to rub off on her thoughts.

The robonoid she had broken crawled over to Peridot, catching her attention. The gem pressed her foot down on the robonoid and destroyed it without a second thought. She brushed the goo off her uniform and continued with her assigned task. She stepped off the warp, only to notice that there was still rubble strewn everywhere, from the warps that had been destroyed before the repairs were made. Peridot seemed to realize that most of the damage had happened recently

"This site may have been compromised!"

She ran back to the galaxy warp, and pulled out a green brick, shaped object, and stuck it to the surface. She warped away as it started to beep. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. All of the robonoids immediately deactivated. The warp hub was left with an eerie silence. Everything seemed to be frozen in time as they clung to their hiding place.

Then, Garnet slid down the pillar and let go of the other gems. A cool wave of relief swept over them now that Peridot was gone. But the relief was quickly replaced by fear once again. Fear of the unknown and was was to come. They were going to war. There was going to be more fighting, more cracked gems. All of then were going to be helpless against their forces. They had no one, while their enemies had an entire planet. And the place they'd sworn to protect would be ruined, turned into one giant kindergarten for their evil purposed.

"They're coming back." Pearl whispered, covering her face. "I can't do this! Not again!"

"We're dead! We are so dead!

"It doesn't matter."

Garnet walked over to the galaxy warp, pulling her harms behind her. The gauntlets began to grow in size, until they were larger than Garnet's head, and then Garnet herself. In one, large motion, she brought her fists down on the galaxy warp. It smashed again, a spider web of jagged cracks running through the once sleek surface.

"SHE'S NOT COMING BACK!"

* * *

Apatite was balancing on one of the floating stones. The gem did her own stretches, the ones that were part of her own, personal training routine. She still had the muscle memory of how to fight from before, but a lot of it seemed to centre around the weapon that she no longer owned. Naturally, that caused a bit of a problem for her. But Apatite had slowly been reworking her skills without whatever her weapon was.

She had also been focusing on figuring out how to counter the Crystal Gems weapons and fighting styles. The fusion's attacks were easy enough to figure out. She punched, and that was about it. So long as she kept her distance, the fusion couldn't do anything to harm her. The amethyst enjoyed throwing things, and often tried to tangle things up with her weapon. But it could be bitten or melted through easily. The last gem's fighting style was a little similar to her own. It involved more dodging around and waiting for a good opening. The spears could easily be crushed or snapped.

Preparing for the next time they would fight... Apatite hoped that she wouldn't have to fight them again, but she knew it wasn't likely. The planet was small, and they were obviously searching for them. But preparing herself for what might happen was nowhere near as important as teaching Steven.

After all, he was the one who the gems had been after first. He was the one they were so bent on keeping prisoner on this planet. She was just a corrupted gem, one that would eventually have to return. Apatite knew that her freedom came with a price. Steven however was different. He had saved her, had been able to do so much for her in their short, painful time together.

She was still so weak, so very weak... And it wasn't going to get better. Apatite knew that it wouldn't. Her centipeetle senses told her so. How was she supposed to forget who she was when it was such a big part of her? Whoever she was wouldn't have, didn't like this. Her existence now was... Unnatural. It wasn't quite right. Apatite knew that there was something majorly off about herself. It made sense considering everything...

Out of the few things she could understand, the Earth was one of them. Not the wars and bad things... So many bad things... The planet itself didn't have any bad memories for her. At least when she was alone with knowledge of the planet... Knowledge wasn't a memory. That was why she still knew how to fight, what the Earth was like... No, no, no! Too many painful memories! She was in too much pain, all the time! She wasn't... Right! She was unbalanced...

When things on Earth were unbalanced, some kind of force was there to make things right again. It stopped things from damaging beyond repair. Even though some things took large turns for the worse, it recovered, after some time. The problem was that she was unbalanced, not herself since Steven had fixed her. She would always be grateful that she had been given this freedom, but something told her that it would not be long before the scales were tipped again.

A rustling sound caught her attention. Then, from out of the bushes came Steven and his lion. Along with a snowy, white mountain goat. Hadn't she told him not to get into trouble while she did her own training? Now was the perfect time to do it, seeing as she didn't have to travel through the desert for most of the day.

"Hey Apatite!" He said. "Meet Steven Junior!"

Was he referring to the goat?

"What's it doing with you?"

"Lion and I made friends with it!"

Apatite looked at the lion, who was hungrily staring at the goat. If Steven didn't watch out, his latest animal friend was probably going to end up as breakfast. Speaking of which, she happened to be rather hungry. She was always hungry come to think of it. But food was just so good! Even if there was no reason for her to be eating.

"Are there more goats around here?"

Steven shrugged.

"Not that I know of. Steven Junior just hopped out of nowhere! He can climb up walls too!"

Jumping off the floating rock, Apatite patted the goat's head. It bleated, and then attempted to chew on her sleeve. The gem then pulled her arm away from it. The lion just let out a long sigh, and collapsed on the ground. Within moments, it was quietly snoring. Apatite gave the animals one final look before focusing on Steven again.

"Are we going to start my training now?"

Chewing on her bottom lip, Apatite thought things over for a moment. It was safe to say that she was done her own lessons for the day. Steven though... They'd been on a simple yet strict schedule for the past little while. It may have been a good lesson for self-defence, but there were other things he needed to learn beyond that.

Even if calling it self-defence would be a bit of a stretch, Steven had to be prepared. Apatite hoped he would never have to use most of what she'd been teaching him, but that wasn't likely. There was no choice on the matter of whether or not to delve into more... Complex things. But, would it be possible for Steven? Apatite figured that there was only one way to find out.

"I think we'll do something more fun today."

Steven tilted his head slightly.

"Don't I need to be prepared?"

"We're just going to learn something different."

"I thought we needed to stick to a schedule."

"It'll just be a day off from the usual." Apatite said. "Something a little more relaxing."

To Steven, the concept seemed a little foreign. He was ways supoosed to be doing something productive, wasn't he? If he were just wasting his time, then he needed to be disposed of. At least, that was how it had always worked back home. Gems didn't need time for leisure. They had to be doing something to contribute all the time. Otherwise the planet would fall into ruin, and there was no way they could have that. It was his patriotic duty as a citizen of the Home World...

"I... Don't get it."

"Do you know how to dance?"

"Not... Really?"

"Well then, you're learning today."

He'd seem performance gems do kind of dances before, but it wasn't really something that the average gem did. Steven wasn't sure why that was. It looked like it was fun enough. But maybe it just didn't have much use beyond entertainment. Perhaps it required some kind of special training that most gems couldn't endure?

"So how to I perform this, dance?"

"First things first, we need to move away from the cliff before one of us falls off."

They climbed up a near-by staircase, until they reached an open area. It was paved with the same, yellowing stone. Fragrant flowers and trees surrounded the area, keeping it closed within it's own, tiny world. From between the foliage, the gentle trickling of water could be heard. Song birds sang, pretty little melodies, adding to the calm, elegant atmosphere of the clearing.

"Ok, now what?"

Apatite pressed a hand against her mouth and tapped her foot. The gem looked around the clearing as she thought.

"We need music of some kind."

"We could make up a song of our own." He suggested.

Whistling a few notes, the gem got an idea. She wasn't musically inclined by any means. Her voice was a little too raspy to be doing any actual singing. But that didn't stop her with figuring out a catchy melody, something they could dance to without much trouble. They'd have to keep it short though. Not that this was a problem of any sorts. If it went on for too long, they'd be exhausted, loose their place in the dance.

"What do you think of this for a start?"

Apatite hummed the first few notes from before. Steven rubbed his chin, and slowly nodded in agreement.

"Yes, yes... I like where this is going. But why not sing that last note lower?"

The gem did as she was told. It really did sound better when she thought about it. Why hadn't she done that before?

"You come up with the next part."

The duo figured out a general tune to follow, and repeated a few times with different variations each time before it ended. All the while, Apatite came up with a few different lyrics to help her remember. Once they had gotten everything down, they prepared to dance, and figure out what they wanted their routine to be.

"Now comes the dancing."

"Ok! Show me how to dance!"

Steven struck a pose.

"I can't just show you how to dance." She laughed. "We have to figure this out together. Here, take my hands, mirror what I do."

Apatite stretched out her hands and gently took Steven's tiny, half-human ones in her own. She took one step backwards, getting Steven to take another one forwards. He stepped on her toes the first try, and again on the second. They repeated these steps to the timing of their song until he got the hang of it.

But then she changed things up by stepping to the side, and diagonally. Steven quickly started to catch on to everything. His grin grew larger and larger as they danced through the little song they had made. Apatite's did as well. Without thinking, the gem twirled Steven around before lifting him into the air, and spinning in the other direction.

"Haha! You're making me dizzy!"

Bending over, she tried to let Steven copy the same thing with her, slowly spinning around before ducking underneath his arms. Both dizzy and laughing, he duo staggered around before falling on to their backsides. They were sweaty and out of breath after their first try, but Steven was still ready to take another stab at it.

"Wow! That's a lot more fun than those performers made it look!"

Apatite pushed her hair back, and fanned her neck with her hand. Whenever she smiled, Steven could see the familiar round gem in the back of her mouth. It made him wonder how she was able to eat or talk, but he wasn't really going to question it. Gems had their ways after all.

"Ready to try again?"

Steven nodded. Apatite stood up, and offered a hand to Steven. He took it, and stood as well. Then, they started with their little dance again, only this time, Apatite did something different. She started to sing the tune they had come up with, but added words to fit in with the flow of the song.

"All I wanna' do, is see us turn into..."

Apatite took a large step to the left. Steven followed, narrowly avoiding her feet in the process. Then she spun around, and took a dramatic step fowards. It pushed Steven off of his feet for a second, but she still held his hands, keeping him from hitting the ground. Apatite pulled him back again, and started to do more complicated things with her feet.

"... Oh I know it'll be great and I just can't wait..."

He dance got harder to follow, but slowly, Steven was starting to predict what she was trying to do. When she started to lean closer to him, it meant to step back. When she pulled away, he stepped closer. Soon, they were both coming up with steps to take, equally leading each other in the dance. They became perfectly in sync with each other. It was almost like they shared the same mind! This was great!

"... All I wanna' do, is see us turn into..."

Now came the end of the dance. Apatite twisted Steven around before lifting him into the air, just as their song ended. They held the pose for a second, and then collapsed into a laughing heap. The duo continued to laugh and gasp for air at the same time, clutching at each other for support.

"Wasn't that great?"

"Ya'! It was awesome!" Steven said. "But, what were the lyrics about?"

"I thought it was obvious. It's a song about fusion Steven."

This stopped Steven's laughter

"Wait, _whaaat?"_

"Fusion. You know, when two gems become perfectly in tune as a single being? Usually through dance?"

"We fused?!" He asked, his voice beginning to rise.

"Of course not! I wouldn't have tried to do that without your permission Steven. We were just doing a dance so you could get the gist of what you needed to do."

"How could you?! Why would you want me to learn something that's so... So-"

"What?"

"AWFUL?!"

Apatite placed her hand on her hips, smile fading away.

"Steven, learning how to fuse properly is important."

"But fusing is wrong! It's what bad gems do! It's just a cheap trick to make other gems stronger, and it's not fair!"

"Combat is rarely fair Steven. Sometimes, you don't have any other choice."

"I'd never fight dirty, I'd rather be smashed!"

"It's still important you know how to do it properly, just in case."

"You'll be there to help me! We can fight off anyone together!"

The gem clenched her fists.

"You can't count on me to save you all the time. And you will fight alongside other gems at some point in your life."

"You'll be there, we'll fight together!"

Growling in frustration, Apatite pulled at her hair. The gem started to pace in front of Steven, who still defiantly stood there.

"I won't always be there for you! Some day you'll wake up and I won't be here any more, while you're still here! That's the reality of things Steven! I have to teach you all I can before I'm gone!"

"You're saying that like you're going to leave soon."

Apatite paled, her temper fading. Steven realized immediately that something was up. He stepped closer to Apatite, and stared at what he assumed were her eyes.

"Where are you going?"

The gem took a step backwards.

"Steven-"

"Apatite, where are you going?"

"You don't understand-"

"TELL ME!"

"DEAD STEVEN! I'LL BE DEAD!"

Taken aback, he stepped away from the gem, slowly shaking his head in denial. No matter how many times he told himself not to cry, Steven found himself with tears streaming down his face anyways.

"N-no! You can't leave me! I don't want to be alone again!"

Taking in a shuddering breath, she shook her head.

"I-I'm not just Apatite. There's another gem in here as well S-Steven. I-I'm not r-really Apatite... I... I don't know w-who I am. B-but I-I'll have to go one d-day so she c-can come back... When we want to remember again, I'll be gone..."

"Then don't remember!"

"I-it hurts..." She whimpered. "S-so much. I-I can't handle it for much longer..."

Steven licked his thumb, and tried to reach for the gem. She shied away from him.

"D-don't... You can't fix me... You can't..."

"I can't do anything!" He cried. "I never even fixed you in the first place!"

"S-Steven..."

The boy shielded his face from her.

"I don't want to talk right now!"

"W-we both need to calm down."

Steven nodded in agreement with her. The boy ran out of the clearing and up the stone staircase. The goat, Steven Junior, followed behind his "father" and leaped after him. This left Apatite with the lion. It sat on it's haunches and stared at her, with intelligent, feline eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

She sneered at the lion and then spat on the ground, dissolving the already crumbling stone path. The lion seemed nonplussed by the gesture. It sat back down and yawned, falling back to sleep again. Lazy ball of fur. Apatite gave it a glare, before leaving the clearing. Since Steven had gone up the stairs, she headed in the opposite direction, sliding down the side of the stairs.

They'd talk once they both cooled off.

* * *

Steven ran up the winding stairs, half-blinded by his tears of frustration. He didn't stop running, even as his legs started to ache and his lungs burned for air. Eventually, he came to a ladder, which he climbed up. This was the top of the last mountain, but he could care less about the heights. A pathway of floating ledges stretched to a massive, floating hill, with a temple near the top.

Jumping from ledge to ledge, he climbed to the other side, and continued up the stairs. Steven didn't really care where he ended up, so long as that place was far, far away from Apatite. Still ignoring the pains in his body, Steven reached the summit. There was an enclosed space, with nothing inside of it where the stairs ended. The ceiling was a dome, and unmistakable gem art was carved in to the ceiling. Out one of the exits, a path lead out to a small shrine, surrounded by water.

Water was still a no for Steven, so he chose to remain where he was. He sat against the wall, and pulled his knees up to his chin. The boy blankly stared at the wall across from them. His thoughts finally started to catch up to him. He wasn't really mad at Apatite as he was scared of what might happen in the future.

Fusion had always been the largest no-no of them all. It had been hardwired in to him after countless painful lessons on the subject. Some of them were even worse than being destabilized. Witnessing the punishments that happened to gems who had fused was just as bad, if not worse. He had to watch, he was supposed to be scared of it. If he didn't act frightened enough, (A feat Steven had no idea was possible when seeing the things he did.) It just made things worse.

Yes, he was properly disgusted at the idea like any reasonable gem would be. But the added fear he felt made what had happened worse. When Yellow Diamond found out he had very nearly fised with another gem... The idea of that happening was so terrifying that Steven would almost rather remain stranded on Earth than face it. But, he would still take the punishment like a gem. And because he would cooperate in telling her, and he hadn't known what was happening, and didn't fuse, he'd probably survive the punishment.

Survive... Was Apatite really going to be gone soon? They had only just escaped, there was so much they had not gotten to do yet! If she left, he would never see her again. He would be all on his own once more. He'd have no one. Apatite was the only one who didn't think he was weird or some crazy freak of nature. She actually helped him get better with his training, and she was fun at the same time. They'd done so much yet so little at the same time...

What was he supposed to do once she was gone? How would he survive? How would he train and keep escaping those other gems? If she left, then he was going to get bubbled sooner or later. He'd be outnumbered, wouldn't stand a chance. Well, at least they'd be stuck on this planet together, forever. That had to mean something, right?

He just wanted...

_"What_ **do** _you want Steven?"_

"Shut up! You're not even real! You're not inside of my head!"

Just then, the faint sound of a voice, a different voice caught Steven's attention.

"...you might even like being together, and if you don't it won't be forever..."

_"She's correct you know."_

Could he actually like being fused? What was it that made fusion so tempting to other gems? Not all of them fused to fight. The one he had met on Earth, always remained fused. But why? Was there some other reason, one that he had not thought, or even learned about before?

"...but if it were me, I'd really wanna' be, a giant woman! A giant woman!"

Apatite was getting closer, still singing the song.

"All I wanna do, is see us turn in to-"

"-a giant woman."

Just as Steven finished the line, Apatite appeared. From his hidden spot, Lion watched as the gem sat down next to the pink one. They started to say things in words that he could not understand, an incomprehensible blend of sounds and gestures. He tuned out their babbling, and watched their actions instead.

Both seemed a little distraught, and vulnerable. They only became more upset as they talked. However, the mood between the two of them steadily began to change. They smiled weakly, showing off their teeth, and shared a brief display of attachment to each other. Something clicked when he saw this.

Lion realized that the smaller one was almost like her cub. Teaching him the necessary skills to survive, and catching him his food. No wonder why he seemed so helpless most of the time! He was still a mere cub. That made more sense, it all made so much sense now. Hopefully, he would become more competent as time went on. He was certainly not interested in catching every meal for him!

"You have a beetle in your hair."

Steven pulled the small, green bug out of Apatite's hair, and showed it to the gem.

"That's not a beetle! It's a gem!"

Looking down at the tiny beetle, he realized that it did seem like a gem sort of thing. He handed it to Apatite, who quickly bubbled the gem. It floated up next to her, along with the desert glass.

"It's best to be careful."

They stared at the two gems in silence for a moment. Then, Steven spoke.

"So... Wanna' sing the song again?"


	20. Coalition

Since the events at the galaxy warp, Pearl had been in a frenzy, trying to find a way to stop the robonoids even more obsessively than before. She worked constantly, dismantling robonoid after robonoid and building device after device in the hopes that she would be able to find something, anything. Her frustrated yells could be heard throughout the temple, to the point where Garnet wondered if they were under attack and Pearl was busy fighting something.

Eventually, she and Amethyst decided that it was best to check up on Pearl and force her in to taking a break. Who knew what disastrous thing would happen otherwise. Amethyst had an armful of robonoid parts which she was carrying back to Pearl's room with them. Like most of the things in Pearl's room, they eventually started to go down the water fall, and ended up in her room. Amethyst was now carrying them back up as they went to confront Pearl. Garnet lay a hand on Amethyst's shoulder before they entered the room.

"Don't antagonize her."

Amethyst rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Like it takes much to bother her."

"We can't afford to be split up at a time like this."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go talk to her already."

The gems entered Pearl's room. She clearly heard them, but did not look up from her work. The gem's eyes were wide and her hair was disorganized again. Greasy, black lines circled underneath her eyes. They were so dark, it almost looked like she had received two black eyes to the face. Pearl did not even seem to be aware as to what she was doing.

She mechanically pulled apart each robonoid, dissected the same pieces with raw fingers, and added another package of sealant to the mountain of them. Her normally clean, neatly shaped nails looked shredded and cracked. They were blackened from the insides of the robonoids. At this point, she was simply opening then with her hands instead of the proper tools, and was grabbing what was needed.

There was a neat pile of parts this time around. This was probably due to the fact that she had papers filled with diagrams and notes everywhere. The entire area was a completely un-Pearl-like mess. Garnet reflected that they probably should have checked up on her much sooner.

"Pearl, you need to stop."

"I can't." She whispered, tossing another robonoid. "Ever since we saw what happened... I just can't stop! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP!"

Garnet grabbed Pearl by the shoulders, pulling her away from her work. Amethyst took the gem's hands, and started to rub them.

"Deep breaths P." Amethyst instructed. "In, out, in, out..."

"I-I can't go back to w-war! W-we don't have Rose this time! There's nothing we can do!"

"Pearl! Snap out of it!"

Garnet snapped her fingers in front of Pearl's face. Amethyst pushed her hands away.

"Let me handle this."

Stepping back, Garnet let Amethyst take control of the situation. If this wasn't such a problematic time for them all, she might have smiled. Amethyst was finally starting to mature a little bit more. It was too bad that the reason why was due to what lay ahead in the future. So many things were going to happen... So many things... The war all over again...

"Look, we're all scared of what's going to happen." Amethyst said. "But we need you to stop freaking out. It won't help anybody."

"I-I failed her." She sniffed. "H-how am I supposed to save you?"

"There's nothing we can do other than make sure we get 'em good before we go down. Make it hurt..."

"Oh Amethyst..."

They shared a hug, Amethyst rubbing Pearl's back. Garnet cleared her throat, reminding the two others that she was still there. They snapped apart instantly, both looking in other directions. A little blush coloured both of their faces, but Garnet pretended not to notice.

"I need you and Amethyst to retrieve the Heaven Beetle from the Sky Spire." Garnet said. "In the meantime, I'll retrieve the other one."

"R-right." Pearl said with a nod. "We'll get right on that."

The gems split up. Amethyst and Pearl took the warp to the Sky Spire. Unfortunately, it was all the way at the bottom mountain. It there was a long walk before they would be able to reach the top. However, the area was relaxing. There were no spiky death traps or ancient gem technology that was waiting to kill them. There was a peaceful, serene air to the place. Amethyst noticed that Pearl instantly seemed much less tense once they got her away from the mess in her room.

"Oh, it's amazing how well the Sky Spire has been able to hold up." Pearl began. "I remember when gems from all over came here so that they could-"

History was one big snore-fest in Amethyst's opinion, but it at least stopped Pearl from going all crazy on her again. She seemed content to babble on about the long history and purpose of the beetles of Heaven and Earth, the very same which they were chasing after. Amethyst wondered if they were going to search for more gem-weapons left on the planet for them to use.

Garnet and Pearl obviously knew where most of them were. The only places with weapons that she knew about were the shooting star's ice chamber, and the place where Pearl kept Rose's weapons. Well, she had no idea where that actually was, so it probably didn't count. Also, most of them could only be activated by Rose. Although, Steven had made the light cannon work...

Amethyst internally cringed, trying not to think about the little guy too much. Even if he was pretty cool, the team came first. She would have to get used to doing things that she didn't like. And if that involved bubbling Steven, then so be it. Amethyst wished that he wasn't such a big threat to everything. She had really liked the little guy. Steven probably hated her now anyways.

After all, she had tried to bubble him like, how many times? Plus there was the whole "blabbed about your identity thing" from just after they met. Things had seemed so much easier back then when compared to now. Running away, getting a ton of money and buying all the doughnuts they could was simple! There were hardly any consequences, other than Pearl getting mad at her. But now? It was practically a life or death situation. In fact, it was a life or death situation for Garnet!

This would only be the start of it all. She had to force herself to toughen up. Otherwise things were going to fall apart. No matter what her feelings were, she had sworn to protect this planet. It was her only home after all, the single place she'd ever known. Protecting it, keeping herself and the others together, this all had to come first. She was beginning to get that now.

Sometimes, she could still hear Steven's screams...

"AAAHHH!"

As they gems rounded a corner, they literally ran into Steven and Apatite. It had happened so many times, that at this point, none of them should have been shocked that this had happened. However, the same, silence shock paralysed the same. As it all sunk in on them again, Amethyst realized that there were two green bubbles floating behind them. One containing the desert glass, ans the other holding a beetle. Was it just a coincidence or was that-?

"They've got the Heaven Beetle!"

The others turns and dashed back up the stairs. Amethyst and Pearl chased after them. The bubble the Heaven Beetle was trapped in floated with the duo, just out of their of their reach. The stairs seemed to go on forever though, making the chase even more awful than it already was. After all, how many stairs could there be in this place? It was just ridiculous!

Finally, the reached the top of the Sky Spire. All the gems were out of breath by this point, and were running in a comically slow and exaggerated fashion. Steven continued to go out the second exit to the dome, where another pathway lead out across a pool of water, before coming to a shrine. He took the bubble with the beetle after him as he went.

Apatite stopped Pearl in her tracks, and the two started to duke it out. Pearl probably couldn't hold her off for very long, but she still stood a bit of a chance. While they were busy, Amethyst slipped past them and followed after Steven. As the gem ran, she grabbed her whip. She threw it, catching Steven around the legs, he tripped, landing face-first on the stone.

Yikes. Amethyst winced a little at the thought of being scraped across the rough stone. It seemed painful. Steven sat up, clutching his elbow in pain. As she approached, the gem saw that some of his red stuff, blood was starting to come out again. This time on his arms and his face. He was sniffling quietly, trying to get his legs untangled before she could reach the Heaven Beetle.

When Amethyst reached out to grab the beetle, she stopped abruptly. Steven looked up at her, large, puppy-dog eyes brimming with tears. He had trusted her, and she broke it without a second thought... What kind of a person did that, just hurting a little kid? She didn't want to be doing this, it wasn't like she had a choice...

Amethyst was disarmed for a moment, not sure what to do. Too late she realized that the tears were mostly fake. Steven got untangled, and then swept out a leg, knocking her on the ground. Amethyst now sported a scrape to match Steven's. He jumped to his feet and pulled the bubble along with him.

"Ha ha! You-"

Suddenly, the water in the pool began to ripple. Then, from out of nowhere, a giant bird emerged from the water. It was the guardian who watched over the Heaven Beetle. Having been awoken, it loudly screeched, and then dived down towards the gems. It swallowed Amethyst, Steven, and the Heaven Beetle whole.

"STEVEN!" "AMETHYST!"

Pearl glared at Apatite.

"This is all your fault!"

"My fault?!" She hissed. "If you would just leave us alone, then this never would've happened! Now if you excuse me, I need to go rescue Steven!"

Despite their rising tempers, they stopped fighting each other. Apatite jumped on to the side of the dome, and scaled her way to the top of it. While she was doing this, Pearl threw a spear at the bird. But the spear never made it's mark. Instead, the bird caught it in it's beak before it could cause any actual damage.

"It ate my spear!"

"Just stay out of my way."

Apatite waited for the bird to fly in their direction. When it did, the gem leaped towards it. Hissing, she kept her arms outstretched. She grabbed on to the bird's beak and wrangled it's jaws shut. This only caused the bird to fight more fiercely. It struggled around, and flapped it's wings, attempting to make her let go. Apatite was shaken off and hurled towards the ground. It happened so quickly, the gem had no time to catch herself. When she made impact with the ground, a small crater formed around her. Apatite groaned, and remained laying on her back.

"Alright, my turn!"

Pearl then launched herself towards the bird. She grabbed two spears from her gem, and threw them at the bird mid-flight. It caught one and struck down the other with it's wings. Pearl remembered that she was still floating in the air, and there was nothing for her to grab on to or land on. Gravity caught up to the gem, and she nearly landed on top of Apatite. The other gem rolled out of the way just in time.

"Watch it." Apatite moaned, rubbing her neck.

"I-I'm not strong enough."

"How am I supposed to get up there again?"

_"You?!_ How am _I_ going to rescue Amethyst?!"

Apatite and Pearl came up with the same idea at the same time. Neither one needed to say anything to each other. Apatite stood up, brushing the dust off of herself. Then, she offered a hand, helping her up as well. The two gems stared each other down, silently sizing each other up. After a painfully long moment of suspicion and scrutiny, they resigned themselves to the urgency of the situation. Pearl nodded, and Apatite returned the gesture. Without saying anything, they struck up a mutual alliance, and prepared to work together.

* * *

The inside of the bird was gross. It smelled, and strange sounds echoed throughout the stomach. Steven had to squint to see around him, not that the view was particularly nice. The inside walls of it were pink, and slimy-looking. There were quite a few things within the bird's stomach. Bones, rocks, a gem that he wasn't talking to because he was mad at her... It had an odd diet. Steven wondered if the bird just ate everything it saw.

"Great. Now we're trapped in here."

The gem kicked the inner wall of the bird's stomach, causing it to twitch slightly. Steven didn't pay any mind to what she was doing though. He kept as far away from her as he could, carefully guarding the Heaven Beetle as he did so. There was no real reason for him to keep it, but he was not going to make their jobs any easier by just giving it to them.

"Well, you can hand over the Heaven Beetle now that there's nowhere to run."

Steven stuck out his tongue at the amethyst.

"Finders keepers."

In one large leap, she grabbed the bubble containing it.

"Loosers weepers."

"Hey! Give it back!"

Steven tried to reach the bubble, but he was too short when the gem held it above his head. He tried pulling the gem's hair and kicking her shins, but nothing got Amethyst to let go of it. Even attempting to push her over dis nothing. She simply stood there firmly, not moving in the slightest. After all he had been taught, he was thwarted by the mere fact that Amethyst was slightly taller than him.

"It's not like you need it."

"You don't need it either!" Steven said.

Amethyst gave a fake yawn.

"Too bad."

Crossing his arms, he stomped his foot in frustration. It stuck into the squishy floor, liquid pooling around it. Steven retracted his foot in disgust, trying to shake the slimy substance off of himself. It fell off with a solid-sounding "thwack." Then, Steven walked away to a farther corner of the bird's stomach.

"Why did you have to turn out to be a bad guy?"

That part stung, even though she didn't outwardly show it. Did he think that she got a kick out of trying to bubble him every time they encountered each other? They weren't the bad guys, they couldn't be. That was just the price of war. That didn't make them any worse than their enemies. Even though their main nemesis was a kid who was even young in human years...

"Hey, at least I'm not the one who's going to start and entire war!" Amethyst retorted.

"Again with the war!" Steven said, kicking the bird. "Why do you keep saying stuff like that?! There is no war!"

"But there will be."

"You say that too much as well!"

"It's the truth."

"How do you even know it's the truth?"

Was there any harm in telling him? Even if he knew about Garnet's future vision, there was not much that Steven would be able to do about it. He'd just realize how Garnet was never really surprised by anything. It seemed reasonable enough to let him know the truth on why they were always trying to keep him contained with the corrupted gems.

"Garnet has future vision."

"I'm going to start a war?"

_"And_ if we let you out, Ruby will die." She said. "I like you Little Man, but my team and the planet have to come first. They're all I have."

Steven turned pale.

"I-I'm gonna' k-kill her?"

"Only if we let you out of the bubble."

"O-only if _you_ let me out of the bubble?"

"If Garnet, me, or Pearl lets you out, then that's it."

A soft groan escaped the boy. Steven sat down and buried his head in his arms.

"I don't want anyone dead..." He whispered.

Just then, the floor around their feet began to dissolve. A hole was melted through the bird, and two pairs of arms reached around the inside of the bird's stomach, reaching for Steven and Amethyst. The entire monster collapsed in upon itself. Steven and Amethyst were both caught before they could hit the ground. Pearl grabbed Steven, while Apatite held on to Amethyst.

When the quartet landed on the ground, tensions started to rise once again. Pearl refused to let go of Steven, and in return, Apatite did the same with Amethyst. Both were no match for the one holding them. Amethyst, while fairly tough, still couldn't compare to the size and stature of Apatite. Steven was still no match for any gem, and he was tired, beginning to loose his fight. So they faced each other, waiting for one to react.

"We'll let go at the same time." Pearl said.

"Only if Steven can get a head start away from you."

"No."

"I'll let go of your teammate first if we can leave here unharmed."

"I'll give you until you reach the bottom of the Sky Spire."

"Good enough." Apatite said. "Where's the warp pad?"

"The beetle."

"Fine."

"It's at the very bottom mountain." Pearl said. "Now do we have an agreement?"

"Yes."

Apatite pushed the bubble containing the beetle towards Pearl. At the same time, she let Steven go. He ran over to her, and grabbed the gem's leg, almost as if he were trying to hide behind her. Then, Apatite literally tossed Amethyst over to Pearl. Steven and Apatite left the top of the Spire in a flash, sliding down the stairs and leaping from ledge to ledge. They didn't stop running until they had reached the warp pad.

"Where do we warp?!" Apatite asked.

"I thought you'd know where to go!"

"Steven, I don't know any locations other than the one's they'll check!"

"I only remember their base and..."

They didn't have much of a choice. Steven closed his eyes and concentrated, warping them away to the kindergarten.

* * *

"What do you mean you let them get away?"

"We made an agreement." Pearl explained. "She had Amethyst and the beetle, and we got both of them."

Neither Amethyst nor Pearl was expecting Garnet to react the way she did when the reported what happened. But a rare fit of anger came over the fusion. She had punched a hole in the temple wall, and was now pacing in front of them. Pearl kept her head bowed in shame, a slight blush of shame colouring her face. Amethyst however was not taking any of it.

She had just been eaten by a bird, and nearly lost the Heaven Beetle, but their mission was still successful! Like, what did it take to please a gem? The whole point of the mission was to get Pearl to stop stressing over everything. So really, it was a perfect success! They'd done everything! But _nooo_! Apparently it was more important that they chase after Steven and make sure that he couldn't cause any trouble.

"But we got the Heaven Beetle like you asked." Pearl meekly said.

"Steven takes priority! He and Apatite could be anywhere by now!"

"Gee, why don't you use your future vision to find them?" Amethyst sneered. "That really helped us before dinnit'? But oh wait, the only thing that it's done is remind us that we're all doomed!"

"This has nothing to do with you Amethyst. It's Pearl's fault that they got away again."

"Wait, what?! It's _Pearl's_ fault that _I_ couldn't fight back against that green creep? It's _Pearl's_ fault that _I_ was caught and lost the Heaven Beetle right after getting it? Is that what you're saying?!"

_"Rrrr!_ No! Yes! It's- Shut up! No- We need to- Stop being so protective! I'm not a- But he's still out there!"

Garnet started to pull at both of her arms. The gems un her palms started to glow, and she became white light. A split was struggling to form down the middle of the fusion's body. One arm was trying to push away from her body, while the other was doing it's best to keep them fused together.

"Garnet! Stop! You're hurting yourself!"

"There won't _be_ a Garnet for much longer if he's still out there!"

Grabbing either side of the fusion, Pearl and Amethyst pulled her Apart. Pearl held Ruby, while Amethyst had Sapphire. The latter was trying to reach out for Ruby. Her hair was askew, revealing her single eye. Ruby however backed away from Garnet once Pearl put her down.

"I don't need you to protect me all the time!" Ruby sighed.

"Steven's still free!"

"That doesn't mean you need to make sure everything I punch isn't booby-trapped!"

"What if there was something hidden in the boulder?"

"It takes the fun out of punching things!"

Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other. Neither of them had any idea that something like this was going on between the two. Garnet was always rather private of course, but it was still surprising that an argument this big was going on right in front of them. She hadn't shown any signs, nothing that they could suspect.

The fact that even Garnet couldn't keep together during these times seemed like a bad omen. After all, she was so much stronger than them. They needed her to be here, to help guide them. Was there some kind of curse against the leaders of the Crystal Gems? First Rose, and now this...

"Ruby, you really should stick with Sapphire for now." Pearl said.

Amethyst let Pearl handle the situation. She was the more calm out of the group, and Amethyst was still angry at Garnet for being mad at them. There was a good reason behind it, but it still didn't feel like it was fair. She hadn't been with them, she didn't see how the whole situation went down.

What if she had been cracked? Would she have preferred having that happen if it meant that they had gotten Steven in return? Was that the point she was trying to make? The team was supposed to come first, and other things afterwards. It meant doing things you didn't like sure, but they were the Crystal Gems! They'd always find a way! Loyalties and then feelings. If they didn't cooperate, then things would like, totally fall apart.

It didn't take long for them to reunite. Their spats usually didn't last long anyways.

"Pearl, Amethyst, I'm sorry for blaming you like that." She said. "You both did well, and got out of a tight situation together. It's just since we let Steven get away before we could catch him again..."

"Wait a minute, _we?"_ Amethyst asked.

"Not like that." Garnet corrected. "Probably could've phrased that better."

Garnet kept speaking, but Amethyst wasn't listening. Something about what she had said stuck in her mind. It was almost like... What did Vidilia call it? Dé... Dé-jam... Dé-ja-vu! The thing where you felt like something had happened twice. That weird thing. This was what it felt like, but the reason seemed to elude her.

It was on the tip of her tongue. Amethyst tried to remember all the times that the familiar phrase had been used. She went through her memories, trying to get that same feeling of remembrance. It had to be in there somewhere! How could she not know why this made her think back... Back...

_We..._ That was the word that got to her. Something... A picture began to form in her mind. And for some reason, Amethyst started to feel guilty. She realized why right away. Steven was terrified after she had told him about Garnet's future vision. She hadn't meant to freak him out, she just wanted him to know the truth, why she had to turn on him, even if she didn't want to.

_We..._

With a sinking sensation, Amethyst understood what was bothering her.

"Garnet?"

"Yes?"

"When you say, if _we_ let Steven out, do you mean us? Like, me, Pearl, and you?"

"If any Crystal Gem lets Steven out, no matter if we're fused or not is what I meant."

"And... Pearl, you didn't let Steven out."

"Excuse me?! Are you suggesting that I-"

"Garnet, you didn't let him out, and you would know if Ruby or Sapphire did."

"Correct."

"Then... None of us let Steven out."

"Amethyst, we already knew that." Pearl sighed. "Do you need to rest for a bit? I know if you sleep too much, you may become dependent on it..."

"If we didn't let Steven free, then-"

The point Amethyst was trying to make dawned upon the gems. Pearl gasped, covering her mouth. Garnet did as well, before shaking her head.

"How could've I missed that?" She asked.

"You were so busy looking at what would happen if _we_ did something, you didn't consider a future where someone else let him out!"

Amethyst turned to tun out of the room. Pearl caught her shoulder before the gem could leave. To her surprise, Amethyst was starting to cry. She roughly wrenched away her shoulder from her hand.

"All this time I've been telling myself I was doing the right thing!"

Amethyst ran out of the room as she started sobbing.

"Amethyst wait!"

"Where are you going?!"

Amethyst's words were barely audible over the sound of the warp pad activating.

"TO JOIN STEVEN!"

Pearl and Garnet jumped towards the stream so they could catch up to her, but they just barely missed her. The two remaining Crystal Gems stared at each other, Amethyst's parting words echoing in their ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gems don't have ears... Errr... Did I say I wouldn't be at the bottom again? I hope I didn't, because I'm here... Anyways the definitions of coalition ripped straight from rhymezone: 
> 
> One: The state of being COMBINED into ONE BODY.
> 
> Two: An organization of people (or countries) involved in a PACT or TREATY. 
> 
> Three: The UNION of diverse things into ONE BODY or form or group; the growing together of parts.


	21. Marble Madness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In response to one of the guest reviews (On FF)
> 
> Who said word play was going to be the thing that turned around Steven and the CG's relationship? This was just the tiny, little push that Amethyst needed to realize how wrong her actions are. Her siding with the CGs hinged completely on the fact that Pearl told her that you had to do things you didn't like for the greater good. Amethyst never liked the way they had to treat Steven, so this was all she needed to finally see some sense. Of course, now she'll be living in Irony City...
> 
> Pearl and Garnet are going to have... Quite a bit of feelings and stuff to figure out. And don't forget, this word play was just about Ruby's life. Steven's still going to end up starting a war. The war is inevitable. Ruby's shortened life was not. 
> 
> My whole idea with this story was loosely centred what the CGs without Rose's influence later on would be. I'm not saying that they would be exactly how I'm writing them right now, oh definitely not. Also, I've been giving them a more villainous twist as I go. There have been several parallels made with Garnet and Jasper throughout the story, while Amethyst mirrors tiny pieces of Lapis (Haha, get it?) And Steven. Except, Steven is a little more like Lapis when it comes to Home World, but Lapis shows signs of Malachite and the parallels only get more confusing from there. The point being, math is stupid and it's better to look for perpendicular bisectors instead. 
> 
> With the CGs... To say the least, they're directionless, emotional wrecks. Note how Amethyst is the most sympathetic out of them, because she didn't have Rose in her life. Garnet and Pearl however, are still very much lost. Everyone has some talking and things to get through before apologies could even try to be made.
> 
> So yes, they are horrible to Steven, they've been outright despicable and abusive with their actions. They have justified everything they've done because of Garnet's future vision. That's not an excuse, or me saying "lol the CGs are actually sort of good guys but not really!" That's just their perspective on things. Their perspective being that they are the heroes and doing the right thing.
> 
> Yellow Diamond has been equally horrible to Steven if not more than the CGs. But she's mainly been more centred around emotional abuse while the CG have been the opposite of that. The interactions between her and Steven have all been from Steven's point of view. And he idolizes her, and doesn't want to disappoint her. Steven has gotten through years of being berated, and harmful physical "training" but he still sees the CGs as the sole bad guys. 
> 
> The main theme in this story (Which will become more prevalent throughout the next chapters.) Has to do with moral black and white. Steven and the CGs see the world like this, instead of realizing that there's no such thing as a person who is purely good or evil. CGs think Steven is evil because he's from Home World. Steven thinks the CGs are evil because they're the CGs, and later on because they're horrible to him. However, something will be learned from this eventually.
> 
> It's also why the number two shows up a lot in this story. (ie; Rose is split in two, there were two sides to the previous war, Steven makes two non CG gem friends on Earth, and two *spoilers* human ones, and so on.) 
> 
> There are no good guys and bad guys in this story. (Except for Lion Lickers. Those things are one hundred percent evil no matter what I wrote in the above paragraphs.) There are just gems and people. Some of them are worse than others. A lot worse. 
> 
> Steven and the CG's relationship (Along with Amethyst's for that matter.) is not going to be all sunshine and daisies by the time this is over. It is not going to be the same as in the show. Everything is going to start off very slowly and precariously. It won't be Bird Mom and Square Mom have fun with Steven. It will be more bleak than that. 
> 
> *whispers*
> 
> Thisstory'sfinalchaptersinvolve"TheReturn,""JailBreak,"and"FullDisclosure." (Butyou didn'thearthatfromme.) However if there is enough demand for a sequel their relationship will begin to progress into something more friendly. 
> 
> Thanks a ton for your insight! When someone brings up a point or has a question with a story, chances are that five other people or more are wondering the same thing.

The kindergarten was deathly still. But the sound of the warp pad interrupted this, for only seconds. The noise bounced off the walls of the canyon, echoing softly before fading out entirely. There was nothing to stir the worthless dust, other than the two outside presences that warped there. They stepped off the warp pad, and began to walk down the short hill where it rested, heading towards the bottom of the kindergarten.

Apatite shuddered. Her hair started to stand on end as she stared at the discoloured soil, and the many, identical holes in the wall. Something put the gem on alert, even though she knew that there was nothing other than them inside of the kindergarten. A small part of her felt torn when she looked at what had become of the place. Compared to everywhere else they had been, it was horrible in comparison. There was just something so wrong about the kindergarten.

Staring at it, she felt like she might start to remember. Apatite averted her gaze from the holes in the wall. There was a gem for every spot here. They'd been left to grow, and were harvested not long afterwards. Yet, what should have been a sign of life for gems was not. The holes were more like graves to all the kindergarten gems that were lost in the war. How was it that so much was destroyed here to make them, but all of them had died off in the end?

"This place is creepy." She said.

"I know. But we'll hear the others if they find us."

A quick sniff of the air told the gem what she already knew.

"There's nothing to eat around here. No water either."

Steven pointed to the top of the canyon.

"Stuff starts to grow once we get out of here."

"Then let's get out of here." She said. "You can handle a vertical climb, right?"

Steven looked at the top of the cliff, and then at the ground, and then at the top again.

"I'll carry you."

Tucking Steven under one arm, she reached for one of the holes just above her head. The gem shuddered as she touched the inside of it, but didn't stop until she had hoisted herself upwards. Then, with a little tricky manoeuvring, she pushed Steven towards the next hole above them. Then, she climbed up to the next one, grabbed Steven, and lifted him into the following hole.

"Wow! You're so strong!"

Gritting her teeth, the gem rubbed one of her arms.

"Thanks."

"So how did you take down that bird?"

Some of the ledge she held on to crumbled, as he grip tightened. Apatite reached out for another hand-hold, and took another step upwards. After a moment, the gem was able to speak once again.

"... That gem and I called a temporary truce."

Astonished by the answer, Steven asked;

"You worked together?"

Quite literally. But she couldn't tell Steven that without sparking another argument.

"You could put it that way, yes."

Balancing Steven on one arm, she helped him reach the next hole. The gem bit back a snarl when he stepped on her head in the process. No matter how many times he accidentally pulled her hair or stepped on her toes, Apatite was never prepared for when he did something like that. She rested against the wall for a moment, and rubbed her head before climbing again.

"So it was a hard battle?"

"I couldn't have saved you if I was on my own." She quickly said. "I figured you wouldn't want to remain in the bird's stomach for the rest of your life."

Thinking back to the inside of the bird, Steven knew that he didn't want to be back inside of again. Especially with her there. Steven didn't care what Amethyst's reasons were! He didn't care that he would end up killing another gem because of his actions! Well... He did care about that a lot. But he didn't want to be bubbled again. The inside of his gem was awful, he hated it! Reforming was already bad enough! He didn't want to spend the rest of his life inside it.

"Two heads are better than one I guess."

For some strange reason, Apatite snorted when he said this.

_"More like one head is stronger than two."_ She thought.

"What's so funny?"

"You wouldn't find it funny." She hastily snapped.

Something about her tone of voice told Steven not to bring it up again. But despite this, he was going to ask anyways. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the warp pad activated. Apatite cursed, and she got into the nearest hole with him. They both cautiously stuck their heads out, and looked down. There, standing on the warp pad, was Amethyst.

Apatite quietly hissed, barring her teeth at the gem.

"Why are they still after you?!"

Until that day, Steven might have asked the same question. But now he knew the truth.

"Apatite, there's something I have to tell y-"

_"Shhh!"_

Slowly, she slid out of the hole. Keeping herself pressed to the side of the cliff, Apatite waited for Amethyst to walk closer to them. All of a sudden, she leaped off the side, and plunged straight downwards. Steven looked away before he could see what happened. He heard a faint squeak of pain, and then nothing. When he dared to look again, Apatite was climbing towards him. A new bubble followed behind her, this one containing a purple gem stone.

"You bubbled her?"

"Yup! One down, two to go!" She grinned. "Three if we want to get technical."

Apatite grinned, but Steven did not share in the enthusiasm with her. Instead, he seemed a little upset.

"What's wrong?"

Taking a deep breath, Steven spilled the entire story of what had happened inside of the bird's stomach with Amethyst. Apatite remained calm throughout the short explanation, even though she seemed to get a little twitchy at certain points. Once he finished, the gem cursed, and made a mock-punch at the newly bubbled gem. Then she pulled at her hair, clearly trying to contain her rage.

"W-what should I do?"

"Nothing!" She hissed. "They have no right to do this to you! If there really is going to be a war against them, then they'll all end up dead anyways! Prolonging it won't do anything in the end! I can't believe those stupid, idiots are relying on future vision of all things!"

"What's wrong with that? Isn't predicting the future a good power to have?"

"No! Yes! It's..."

She became unstable once again. Her gem turned visible as her figured buzzed in and out of a solid state. When she reformed again, the gem's skin colour was different, and there was something wrong with... With everything. She was still flickering slightly, almost as if she wasn't fully there. Her hands didn't seem to match her proportions, and she had an extra finger on her left hand. Her teeth were now all pointed, and a few of them were missing.

"This place... So many bad memories!"

"S-stop thinking about your past!"

"I... Can't!"

"Come on! It's not that hard! Just do what I do!"

"Y-you need to think about yourself as w-well." She rasped. "I make you remember too!"

A chill ran down Steven's spines as she said so. Apatite outstretched both of her hands at his neck. Squeaking, Steven crawled to the back of the hole. The space gradually got smaller as he did, and darker. Keeping as far back as he could, Steven hoped that she wouldn't be able to get him from here. He could see Apatite reaching for him, but he slapped away her hand.

"You... Must think about your past!" She said, a note of hysteria in her voice. "She wants out!"

"W-who wants out?"

"I can feel her... She's in there! In gem!"

"Apatite, you have to stop remembering!"

"I... Won't let you- Steven needs m-me!"

A hand grabbed Steven by the ankle. He was pulled towards the gem with a single tug of her wrist. Something funny happened to his leg when she did so. For a moment, Steven had thought it was broken again. But this time, it looked like it was in a funny position. A deep, aching pain set in on his upper thigh, where something didn't seem right. Steven realized that the bone in his leg had been shifted out of joint. His leg was dislocated.

Still clinging on to his ankle, Apatite pulled him out of the hole. Helpless and hurt, he could do nothing as the gem let go of his leg.

* * *

Garnet could not find Pearl. She was not in her room or outside of the temple. She hadn't heard the warp pad go off either. Garnet was also fairly certain that her lion had run away to join Steven, so it probably hadn't opened up a portal for her. A tiny part of her wondered if she had run off to find Amethyst. An even tinier part didn't blame her if she had.

It was only when she was walking to Ruby's room that she heard something. Garnet thought it might be the sinker. It continued to elude them, no matter how many times they tried to hunt down the mysterious monster of the temple. However, nothing lashed out at her. Garnet heard the sounds coming from Amethyst's room. The fusion cautiously entered. When she rounded a larger geode, she saw Pearl, facing away from her.

Pearl was by one of the waterfalls, and she had a pile of different things in her arms. Swords, pieces of the robonoids, and more weapons. Then, she jumped up to the top of the waterfall, where her room was. Pearl returned, with her hands now free. The gem stood expectantly in front of the falls, clearly waiting for something. Then, one of the same swords from before fell over in to the water, as did the same robonoid parts, and other weapons.

The cycle repeated a few times, with Pearl replacing her things in her room, only to retrieve them from Amethyst's room. Finally, Garnet decided that she should probably speak up.

"Pearl."

Pearl dropped her things.

"O-oh! Hello Garnet!" She greeted. "I w-was just p-picking up some of my things!"

Garnet chose not to make a conversation out of that topic.

"Peridot's been sending larger robonoids to Earth."

"O-oh really? Why didn't you say so? I could've helped in finding a way to stop-" Pearl seemed to freeze. "Well, I could've helped destroy them."

"They've been entering the atmosphere regularly for the past hour. I could keep fighting them, but I don't want to."

Just then, there was a loud, crashing sound.

"What was that?!"

Garnet groaned, rubbing her temples.

"Another one." She said. "It'll be in the kindergarten."

* * *

Steven fell through the air, to what would certainly be his doom. But in some, strange miracle, he managed to form a bubble around himself before he hit the ground. Steven bounced a few times before he came to a stop. Then, the bubble popped. Groaning, he struggled up to his feet. His dislocated leg gave him a difficult time, but Steven was getting used to bad things happening to his leg at this point.

Animalistic screams came from Apatite. The gem was starting to slide down the wall, preparing to chase after him. Steven didn't know what he could do or where he could go. But suddenly, he noticed a hole in the ground that had not been there before. It was square in shape, as if something had drilled downwards. He looked back at Apatite, who was still limping towards him.

Steven took a leap of faith, hoping that he would survive this fall as well. To his surprise, he was instantly met with solid ground. The walls however, were moving around him. Steven realized that he was on an elevator. He slowly descended into the darkness underneath the kindergarten. He could still hear Apatite's voice echoing down the elevator shaft.

Shuddering, Steven brushed the tears out of his eyes. He was going to be on his own again. Everyone he became friends with left him in the end. Pyrite, Amethyst, Lapis, and now Apatite. And not to forget, all of them had tried to kill him. Why did this keep happening to him?! Why was he always alone at the end of the day?

Something nudged his shoulder. Steven realized that it was the bubbles containing the desert glass and Amethyst. He never paid any mind to the bubbles that usually floated around him or Apatite. They'd lost the Heaven Beetle, but had gained one. They must have followed him when he fell. When Apatite had dropped him...

She was corrupting again and there was nothing he could do about it! And she'd tried to kill him! Or, at least make him retreat to his gem again... Nothing she said made any sense! She kept talking about him remembering, about someone else... But she was the one who had to remember everything that happened in her past, not him! Still, it brought a frightening question to mind.

If he stopped recalling what happened in his past, would he end up like Apatite?

It seemed almost like a fate worse than death...

The elevator stopped. There was no door to it, only one wall that stopped abruptly, and a platform leading towards an alcove. There was an odd, greenish light in the area, but Steven could not tell what the source of it was. Something scurried past him. Steven jumped backwards in surprise. It was a small, green, flask robonoid. It ran over to a raised hand print in the ground. The kind used to verify someone's identity.

The robonoid heaved itself on to the print, spreading out it's legs like little fingers. It seemed like enough identification for the hand. It glowed, and then sank in to the ground. The entire space around him turned green as well. Then, the wall in front of him started to glow. Steven realized that it wasn't actually a wall, but a screen. And he was now staring at an alarmed peridot.

"Ack! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Peridot, it's me, Steven! I've been stranded here forever!"

"How do you know my name?!"

Steven gave the peridot a strange look.

"You're a peridot." He said. "How could I not know your name?"

The peridot blushed and straightened up in her seat.

"Rude! You're just a _human!_ You shouldn't even have the brain capacity to know what a gem is!"

Steven lifted up his shirt to show his gem.

"Nope! I'm a full, one-hundred percent gem!"

The peridot squinted at him. Steven wondered if it was too dark for her to realize exactly who he was.

"Why the human clothing? It's hideous."

"I've been trapped here!" He said, waving his arms. "I just told you that!"

"Yes, yes, while that's all _wonderful,_ I need to get back to my job."

He felt his stomach sink a little. Why wasn't she listening to him?! Didn't she get that he was trapped on this planet and he needed a way to get off?! Escape was so close he could taste it, but the gem wasn't even taking him seriously!

"Tell me, have Stevens replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?"

"What?! No! Steven's my name!"

"Then what are those shabby, gem-like things right behind you?"

Steven slowly turned around to face two-thirds of the remaining Crystal Gems. The boy became white, and felt his heart skip a beat. They both pulled out their weapons and took on a fighting stance.

"We are the Crystal Gems! We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!"

"You what?! But the records say that Gems were wiped out on Earth!" Peridot seemed to realize something. "Wait a minute, you're the ones that have been destroying my plug robonoids! Are you the reason the Home World warp is down _again?!_ Why do you keep destroying my THINGS?!"

A quiet thud caught all of their attention. Rough, raspy snarling filled the room. The hunched, over figure of Apatite crawled into the room. She flickered and buzzed, no longer having a solid body. Peridot recoiled from her monitor at the sight. A rising panic started within the gem. Weirdos interrupting her work on Earth was one thing, but, whatever that was?! That was an entirely different situation!

"B-but it's too early for the clusters to hatch now!"

"A what?"

"None of your business you clods!"

Peridot got a better look at the gem as it crawled towards the Steven. She realized it was not part of the cluster, as it only had one gem. The gem reached out towards the Steven, who dodged out of the way. The other two gems were much too started to do anything at first. They stood there watching as the gem went after the other one.

"He has Amethyst!"

The other gems then leaped into the mix, and the Steven screamed again, ducking and dodging their attacks. Peridot's transmission ended then and there, the screen going dead. On her end however, she received a chilling finish to things. A blurry, distorted image of Steven screaming as the gems went after him was frozen on her monitor. One of his hands was reaching out to her, as if he were begging for her help.

Peridot shuddered. She'd better report this.

* * *

"S-Steven..."

"Get away from me!"

Apatite grabbed on to Steven's foot. He tried to shake her off, but she was too strong. Apatite started to pull herself to her feet again, remaining just barely solid. When she tried to speak, the centipeetle's screech sounded instead. The others backed off as she turned unstable yet again.

Her figure started to tremble as she grew taller. Extra arms and legs sprouted from her sides, and her body continued to morph into something completely un-gem-like once again. Despite all Steven's efforts, she was becoming corrupted again. Before she could transform completely, she managed to say one last thing.

"R-run!"

So Steven ran without looking back. He heard the gems fighting with Apatite, things breaking and shattering like glass, but he didn't dare look to see what was going on. He ignored the odd pulsing in his leg, and picked up the pace of his wonky, wobbling gait. He'd survived a broken leg. A dislocated one was nothing in comparison.

Steven ran through the kindergarten, the never-ending reminder of all the gems that had been lost in the war. He ran past the same, repeating holes, the grave markers of a million, faceless, nameless gems. He ran from the abandoned injectors, that still clung to the Earth, waiting for the day that they would finish the job. He was going to start another war after all. It only made sense that they would return eventually.

Steven ran away from the gems, and yet another friend who had turned on him in the end. He tripped and fell over rocks, boulders, the same playthings of a gem he had thought was his friend. He ran through the dried riverbed that was the canyon where gems had been grown. There was water here at one point, before it was all ruined. But now there was nothing to pull him under the waves and leave him there to drown. Lapis was gone too.

Everyone was gone! He just couldn't take it any more! Steven felt his eyes grow heavy, the world spinning around him. Suddenly, the ground rushed to meet his face, and everything turned dark around him. A black, sickly colour. A colour darker than the empty graves that bored in to the walls of the kindergarten.


	22. Tower of Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is an AU story, I have decided that the gems have ears in this weird, alternate universe. All thanks to a single line in one chapter.
> 
> That is all.
> 
> Oh wait, to answer a few guest questions/comments:
> 
> I'm out of names: It's a deliberate thing, not a plot hole. She's supposed to be looking for Steven, but she focuses on the cluster project instead. (Which is why YD is so annoyed with her now.) Still, she should recognize him even more because of this. But she hasn't... As the story progresses, we'll see that something isn't quite right with Peridot since the "upgrade" she received.
> 
> Guest: It's a complete co-wink-y-dink they keep finding him. Sort of like Peridot but not really. The Home World can track Steven, but only to the closest galaxy.
> 
> And... I can't answer that other question...

The sound of cautious footsteps was what woke Steven up. He could hear the slow, crunching noise of gravel. It sounded like someone was trying to keep quiet, and hidden. The boy groggily lifted his head and looked around. His world was blurry, and his eyes were filled with sleep dust. Steven tried rubbing it off, but if felt like he just smeared more dirt on his face.

Still light-headed from fainting, he barely managed to crawl into one of the holes. Just moving made Steven feel sick to his stomach. All of him hurt, even on the inside. Especially on the inside. And the leg he dislocated. Steven crept as far as he could, knowing that the darkness would keep him hidden from anything that came is way. He started to wake up more when the sounds grew louder.

The boy held his breath, quietly hoping that he wouldn't make any noise. But even the sound of his heart beating seemed like the loudest scream he could muster. He remained stock-still as it got louder and louder. Could it be the Crystal Gems? It sounded like there were two separate foot steps, but he couldn't be sure. It had to be them. They were looking for Amethyst, and him.

Now there was nowhere for him to run, and no way to fight back. Apatite was gone for good. He would never get to see her again. In all respects, his closest friend may as well have been dead. Just when Steven thought the steps could get no closer, they did. Four, pink, furry legs and a long tail passed by the entrance. Then, Lion stuck his head into the hole, blinking curiously at him.

"Oh so _now_ you show up." He grumbled.

Lion pressed his nose against Steven's chest. He shoved lion's head away from him.

"Get lost."

Incensed, Lion withdrew his head, and gave a haughty sniff. But he didn't leave like Steven had hoped for. Within moments, Lion had wriggled his front half into the hole. He batted a large paw at Steven's head. Steven pushed Lion out this time, and crawled out of the hole. Lion followed after him, curiously staring at Steven with all-too intelligent eyes.

"Leave already Lion!"

Lion nudged Steven in the side, and gave a morose yowl. Steven ignored the lion, and started to walk away from him. The green bubbles containing Amethyst and the desert glass faithfully bobbed after him, now that the bubble's creator was no more. Steven tried not to stare at the familiar green shade they were, not wanting to think about everything that just happened. Lion followed just as faithfully as the two bubbles, as if he hadn't vanished off the face of the planet, leaving him to fight on his own.

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

He picked up a rock and threw it at him. Lion dodged out of the way before it could even reach him. Steven threw another rock, and then another, but none of them met their mark. The stones shattered against the walls of the kindergarten, spraying little shards everywhere. Lion kept stepping out of the way, still drawing closer to Steven.

"Don't you get what I'm saying?" He asked. "I don't want you here! You're going to leave me anyways! I'm just speeding things up! Everyone leaves me, and you're no _different!"_

Lion gave a sad cry. He rubbed up against Steven's side, spreading his pink fur all over him. Then, he gave Steven's face a reassuring lick. This was all it took for him to break down again. Clutching the lion's fur, Steven buried his face in Lion's mane, and started to bawl. He was just so sick of everyone leaving him behind! He just couldn't take it any more! Lion patiently let him do so, standing there for him.

"I-I'm sorry!" He cried. "I-I still wanna' be friends!"

Lion yawned. Steven pulled his head away from Lion's mane and asked;

"D-does that mean you forgive m-me?"

Lion pressed a paw on his foot. Steven looked down at his leg, rubbing tears away from his eyes. Why did he always get crazy injuries like this?

"I'm not going to heal it." He said.

Steven assumed that Lion probably asked why in his own way.

"Because of my powers, I created Apatite, and those crazy fruit-monsters. It's more trouble than it's worth. So from now on, I'm doing things the human way."

Steven leaned against lion to help him walk. He didn't care if he was in pain and it made him walk funny. He wasn't a gem anymore. He was a human being. Human beings didn't accidentally create monsters, that became friends, only to turn back into monsters again. Human beings realized when their friends were suffering the entire time they had existed. Besides, he was never good at being a gem, he never had been. So now, he'd never use his powers again.

The kindergarten was just a reminder of why being a human was better than being a gem. After all, humans didn't ruin the planet for their own, selfish wants. Humans didn't pick fights with other innocents who had done nothing. They didn't start wars that killed off millions of their species. The kindergarten was just a graveyard for gems. Gems no one ever talked about. Sacrifices that meant nothing to anyone. There were no gem shards to bury here. Just holes, rows and rows of holes.

Thinking that made Steven stop in his tracks. Lion curiously looked at him. Steven limped away from Lion, heading towards a large boulder in the canyon. He crouched, and started to dig a small, circular hole in the ground. The dirt was hard-packed, and difficult to get through. But Steven felt like the end result was worth it. He grabbed near-by pebbles, and slowly spelt out Apatite's name, along with a short message. Steven felt an odd, uncomfortable sort of satisfaction with the end result.

_Apatite._

_Gone, but not forgotten._

The irony of the statement could've killed him then and there.

* * *

The irony of the situation could've killed her then and there.

_"Well this is fantastic."_

After the first few times she tried to reform, Amethyst realized that they were not going to let her out. She'd be completely helpless now, probably floating after Steven and friends in a bubble. Being trapped like this was pretty uncomfortable. Amethyst was starting to feel claustrophobic. She wanted nothing more than to get out of her gem, but it seemed like this was not to be.

_"I deserve this anyways."_

Well, she got it now. She'd had the taste of her own medicine and now she was ready to leave. But, that didn't seem like the case. And who knew how much time had passed while she was inside of her gem? There was no way to tell. It was almost like an itch that she couldn't reach. Amethyst didn't know if she should be worried, or really super worried.

After all, if she had been caught, her teammates might not be far behind. No, former teammates, ex-teammates. Because she was done! She was done with being a Crystal Gem! If doing the things they did meant being a Crystal Gem then she was so done with it all! Not that Home World was any better, it seemed way worse actually. But she was so done fighting these battles.

Amethyst figured that once she got out, she'd ask Vidalia for a place to crash... That was, if she was still alive when she got out. Humans lives were so short. She might go missing without her friend ever knowing what had happened to her... That was pretty messed up, and enough to push Amethyst in trying to reform again. Nothing of course. She was still stuck. Completely alone with herself and her thoughts. And the life-altering memories that typically happened to be the ones she wanted to forget about.

Karma had always seemed like one of those silly human ideas to her. It was like that weird fat guy who delivered presents, or the Easter Platypus! Just one of those superstitions they had because no one wanted to understand things. It probably had to do with Pearl's lectures. Anyone would make up something like a guy who gave stuff away for free to explain things rather than listen to her.

But now, even one of Pearl's boring talks about the importance of the whatever would have been welcomed. She was stuck. Completely unaware of what was really happening. If Garnet and Pearl got her back, would she even be let out of her gem? She wasn't exactly a part of their team anymore. Garnet would just say nothing like she always did, and Pearl would say too much! She'd justify it because she was technically a prisoner of war and they'd have to do things they didn't like because of it!

Well that was stupid! But fitting. Amethyst knew. She deserved every, agonizing second she spent trapped in here. She thought that it was the right thing to do when it was Steven, and not her. Now here she was, spending what would probably be the rest of eternity in a bubble. All no thanks to Apatite. So much for talking before taking action. All she tried to do was tell Steven that he didn't need to be bubbled. He had been freaking out when she told him the first time. He probably still was now the poor guy.

A minute part of herself was jealous of Apatite. Amethyst knew that she had no right to be. After all. She had sold out Steven within the first fifteen minutes of meeting him. But the oh-so-wonderful Apatite had saved him, even as a corrupted gem! And she had fought along his side, protected Steven from them. Going on the run and introducing him to doughnuts was pathetically flimsy in comparison. If a gem could still be friends with him when it was corrupted, she really had no excuse.

But, she knew in her hear of hearts that Apatite was a much better friend to him than she could ever hope to be.

_"Maybe you're better off with her."_

Amethyst narrowly avoided being hit with a shower of corrosive saliva as she climbed up Rose's fountain. The centipeetle mother was one crazy fighter. She didn't get why she was trying to protect Steven though, or how she had gotten out. What Amethyst did know was that she was fighting like hell to keep them away from him. This was a harder battle compared to the usual spat between them and corrupted gems.

When she reached the top of the fountain, Amethyst lay across it's arm. It was too risky to walk over it when the stone was soaking wet from the spray of the tears. So she pushed herself along her front, all while trying not to scrape her gem in the process. It was a bit of a hassle, especially with Steven trying to scare her off.

"Get away from me!"

It was hard to hear his words over the roaring of the water, but she could still see the fear in his eyes. Steven desperately held on to one of the statue's fingers in a feeble attempt to stay as far away from her as possible. He was frightened, scared for his life really. But she ignored the bad feeling in her gut, or at least, tried to.

"I don't like this either." Amethyst panted. "But I don't have a choice. We're on opposite sides of a war."

"A war that's been over for five thousand years!"

"Don't you get it Steven? If Home World finds out we're here, they'll kill this entire planet! The Earth is my only home, and I'm not going to loose it!"

"No! Y-you can't keep me here any longer!"

Amethyst had reached the end of the statues arm by this point. The stone was slippery because of how wet it was. But she still gradually got to her feet, precariously balancing on the arm. Amethyst just hoped that she wouldn't fall off, and that her aim would remain true. She summoned her whip, and took a deep breath. She could do this... She could do this... She had to... She couldn't fail her teammates now. Failure wasn't a choice with everything on the line. Finally, Amethyst knew she was ready. Drawing back her arm, she prepared to throw her weapon at Steven.

"This is going to hurt me more than it'll hurt you."

_"I think she's better for you."_

This was the sole thought in Amethyst's mind after she squashed another centipeetle.

After all, Apatite and Steven had escaped, while they were still stuck in the middle of this stupid hedge maze! There were centipeetles everywhere! They just kept on coming and coming! There was no way to stop the stupid bugs! She was bitten, scratched at, and burned through by the pests. Her teammates weren't faring any better for that matter.

The great escape of Apatite and Steven was much better than the time she and him had snuck out. That new gem has totally upstaged her! Well... Not that she cared anymore... Really. She really didn't feel jealous in the slightest. You didn't feel jealous when your enemies made new friends!

Even if they really were better for them. Better than she could ever hope to be...

_"I forgot how great it felt to be us. I guess I got... Carried away."_

Being Opal was wonderful. It made her understand Garnet a little better. She felt stronger, strong in the real way. It didn't matter if she wasn't hundreds of feet tall, or had a different weapon. She felt stronger just knowing that there was someone out there who viewed herself in the same light. Neither she nor Pearl really... Liked themselves that much. But Opal was different.

She was their logic, she was their reasoning, she was a consolation... And she was just so chill about it all! Opal didn't care for Steven as much as she did. Pearl balanced that out, and so she did nothing. Nothing until he started to beg with her, pleading not to do it. This was all so wrong, and she knew it!

In the heat of the moment, she nearly almost forgot who she was. Amethyst may have been the name for her left arm. But at the last second, she managed to stop herself from helping poof Steven.

_"I had to use you to make me feel stronger, but I don't care about that now..."_

Telling Pearl what he had said was the first thing she did wrong in her long, line of mistakes. She was so sick of it all that she just told her! Everything was awful and she hated it! She hated how awful it was. When she got the chance to make things seem a little better again, she took it. She took the half a second of Pearl shutting up instead of doing what she really should have done.

_"I see a tower built out of my mistakes, and it all comes crashing down."_

Just like Apatite and her face.

Amethyst stopped thinking about everything that had happened, every place where she had gone wrong. She'd brought this upon herself after all. But how was she going to get out of this? Was there something she could do? Anything? How would she ever be able to make it up to Steven when she was trapped like this?

Eternity in a bubble was going to be a real drag.

* * *

An odd question plagued Steven's mind.

He was sitting in one of the holes now, sheltered from any outside forces of the kindergarten. At least, as far as she knew. With that creepy room under the place, who knew what else there might possibly be. But, he felt oddly sheltered when he was in the hole. Nothing could sneak up on him, and if someone did show up, he would know, and be able to hide.

The hole he chose to stay in was directly across a hill. It was probably made from all the dirt that would've been excavated, and had been solidly stuck together as time wore on. Directly on the top of the hill was the warp pad. He would know when the Crystal Gems came back this time. They wouldn't stop here, he knew that now.

Who wouldn't want him to be bubbled? They'd have to be insane not to want to do this. After all, he was going to kill one of their teammates. He was going to be the one that would start a war. It would all be his fault, and because of that, it was necessary for him to be locked away inside of his gem until the end of time. Or maybe until the solar system's sun started to die. You couldn't destroy a planet when it was already dead after all.

Did he have to fight in a war, just because he started it?

He couldn't fight, he couldn't kill any one! He didn't want any one dead, no matter what they'd done. Wishing someone dead just seemed so wrong. Being the actual cause of another gem's death seemed even worse than that. Was it better to just surrender? Or would it be easier to wait for the inevitable and let what had to happen, happen?

There was no way that he could fight in the coming war, even if he was the cause of it. He was just a little older than a decade, and his fighting skills were awful. Not that he had fighting skills any more because he had decided that he was not a gem. He was going to be a human being from now on. A human being who didn't have any fighting skills or crazy powers.

Yeah, as if that would ever work out. The Home World would never accept that from him. If he wasn't who he was, he'd probably receive the death penalty for saying something like that. He could be an ordinary human on Earth sure, but everything changed off-planet. Once he was rescued...

A slight shiver ran through him when the mutinous thought crossed his mind. What if he _didn't_ go back? What if he stayed here on Earth, chose to be a human and live out the rest of his life that way? How hard could it be to loose himself among the billions that inhabited the planet? The thought was so frightening, so dangerous that he nearly fainted again.

The idea was insane, completely insane. He had to go back home eventually. It was his home! It had home in it's actual name! How could it not be? Even though they were taking a long time to find him, and that peridot wasn't right in the head, and... Well his loyalties still lay with them!

The same, glorious, flawless planet... That he had managed to warp off by accident thanks to malfunctioning equipment... So, maybe even they made mistakes. But at least they were loyal back. Especially to the millions of soldiers that had been born on the planet, only to wind up dying... Yes, the Home World had done an amazing job at remembering them by never talking about the war or acknowledging that it existed...

Well, Home World took care of those who mattered in the end. The gems who still helped contribute to society! Even he had to work, and he got the best treatment possible in return! He got lots of tiring, "character-building" training with little to no rest, a thing that he learned was a necessity for human beings. Along with actual food, and water.

He also met countless astounding gems. War veterans who enjoyed toying with the remains of the fallen. Sadists who liked torturing gems who had committed crimes like fusion. The brilliant scientists who always made him do things that hurt during check-ups, and were always sticking needles in his arms and legs.

And to top it all of, the best mentor of all. The one responsible for all of the bad things that happened to him. The one who controlled every aspect of his life, deciding when he should do what. The one who approved all the things he went to, and told him that he had to be stronger, to devote himself to the wonderful place he called home...

After life on Earth, all the lessons he had progressed through with Apatite, his life back at home was exactly what he wanted to return to... Right... That was the thing he wanted... The life where he always felt like he was being berated, told that he wasn't strong enough, would never be a real gem. That was exactly it... Sure...

Steven now knew that without a doubt, he did not want to go back home.

"Who am I kidding?!"

Grumbling, Steven got out of the hole. Lion was nowhere in sight. A disconnected part of him felt saddened by this, but the rest of him was too angry to notice, or even care if he did. He started to hobble back and forth between his hiding spot, dislocated leg completely ignored. He began pulling his hair as he tried to figure things out.

"Home is awful! Here is awful! And no matter what I do, people are always getting hurt! I'm always getting hurt! Why isn't there a way for me to stop it-"

Steven tripped on his own foot. When he looked up from the ground, the answer to his unfinished question met him. It was the warp pad. The one he had been watching in case the Crystal Gems showed up again. There was his answer. The way he could stop people from dying in another war. He could avoid becoming a murderer thanks to this. It all lay in one of the few places he knew where to warp to.

As he pulled himself to his feet, Steven became less and less aware of his surroundings. He turned numb to the outside world, his own conscience when he knew what had to be done. He'd go quietly. No more fighting from him. It would be quick. Just like when he arrived on Earth. Just a small pinch and then it would all be over. If keeping himself bubbled meant that he would stop himself, then he would do it.

Steven put one foot on to the warp pad, listening to the dull sound the contact made. It echoed through the kindergarten before dying out. Then, he pulled his other leg on to the warp pad, and deeply inhaled. He took one last view of the kindergarten before warping to the Crystal Gems' base.

* * *

Lion woke up when he heard the angry shouting of his human-gem. Yawning, he stretched out his legs, and then tried to stand. He was met with resistance though. Lion remembered that he had hidden in one of the holes to rest, like the pink one had done. He emerged, and looked around, wondering where he had gone. But Lion found no one. The pink one had left again, without him.

Something was wrong.


	23. Maheswaran

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... I have no idea how American doctors and hospitals work... Or how the whole payment thing works. Research lead to mainly complaints and arguments about what's to be expected when you see "America" and "healthcare" in the same sentence.
> 
> Originally, this chapter had a silent staring contest between Onion and Steven. But, while the idea was hilarious in concept, it wasn't so much in written form.

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

_Thump..._

Greg heard the soft sound grow louder as he climbed up the hill. It was clearly coming from the top of the hill. But the sun was high in the sky. Greg had to squint to even see where he was going. Making out the top of the hill would be a bit of a challenge. The man raised pushed his hair away from the back of his neck, and waved a hand, fanning it. The weather was ridiculously hot outside, now that it was the peak of summer. But that was not the main reason he was sweating... Well, it was at least not the reason he would be sweating if it had been winter outside instead.

Yet again, the man found himself being oddly compelled to check on the crazy magical ladies and their... Steven. Greg knew that they were really some kind of alien species, and they probably had a completely different culture and values that humans would find strange. They were completely different beings. But that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about the way they treated Steven. Something about that set him on edge. The feeling in his ever-growing gut told him that maybe they weren't the best guardians to Steven. Well, not that he could tell for certain! Maybe they had thought that Steven was in bed when he was actually drowning!

That made sense... Right? Although, something told Greg that this wasn't the case. Those magical ladies all had jewels for names, and Steven had mentioned a Lapis, as in, Lapis Lazuli. She was the one who had nearly drowned Steven. And before that, his leg had been broken under suspicious circumstances. When he'd asked what happened, he was told not to ask.

Still, the other part of him argued that if something was wrong, Vidilia would know. She and Amethyst were friends. If something fishy was going on, then Vidalia would know about it too. She'd never stand for that, even if they were aliens. This was why he was on his way to the magical ladies'... Greg supposed that it was a house of some kind. An alien house.

"Alright, just don't suggest that you think they're horrible guardians to Steven." Greg mumbled to himself. "Just ask how he's doing. Ask to see him. About what though?"

Greg knitted his eyebrows, thinking about the question. He didn't want to seem like he was creepy. Then the whole town would think he was kooky on top of creepy. It was normal to be this concerned right? This was all perfectly normal. No one would think he was weird, or not believe him when he said that there was something wrong with the way he was treated.

"His leg! It'll just be a check-up for his leg, make sure that everything set properly again!"

With that idea in mind, Greg steeled his nerves. He reached the top of the hill not long after that though. The second he stepped on the stone, he instantly lost all of his inner strength. Right as his stomach did a belly flop, he saw what was making the thumping noise. He had begun to ignore the steady beat after he had first heard it. It hadn't seemed like it was anything significant at the time. But now Greg saw what it's source was. His stomach twisted at the sight.

Leaning his head against the door to the temple was Steven. He raised his forehead off of the surface, only to lightly smack it again. Except for his head, he remained stock-still, slowly hitting his head over and over again. The boy was beat up and scratched along his arms and legs. Steven still wore the same clothes that he had given him. They were torn as well, and clearly filthy. And for some strange reason, his hair was a bright, rosy, pink instead of brown.

Greg ran up to the boy and lightly pulled him away from the door. He took a dazed step back, blankly staring at the door. There was a large red mark where he had slowly beaten himself raw. But the worst part of it was the silence. Steven didn't say anything, didn't even acknowledge his existence. Steven just stared straight ahead of him, his eyes glassy and unblinking. Greg waved a hand in front of his face, then he tried snapping his fingers.

"Steven? STEVEN?! Snap out of it!"

He suddenly slouched over, not even trying to catch himself. Greg did instead, catching him by the shoulders and standing him up again. Still, he swayed slightly on his feet, as if an invisible breeze was pushing against him. This did absolutely nothing to calm the rising feeling of panic that Greg was beginning to feel. This was looking really bad.

"Why are you doing this?"

His eyes seemed to clear a little.

"I have to." He whispered.

"What did they do to you?!"

"I have to surrender."

"What?! Why?!"

"They say that I'm going to kill one of them if I don't."

"You mean you're a _criminal?"_

"I will be if I don't surrender." He said.

As they continued to talk, he seemed to become a little more coherent. Steven shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if he were waking up from a long sleep. He glanced at the green bubble that floated near his shoulder, and then back at Greg again.

"Steven, what do they plan to do to you?" Greg asked.

Steven looked at the bubble resting near his shoulder again. He shuddered, and stepped away from the floating, green oddity.

"Amethyst's in there."

Greg saw there was a purple gem floating inside of the bubble.

"She's _in_ there?"

"We go back to our gems when we get badly hurt."

"So wait, you're telling me that they're going to hurt you enough to make that happen?"

"It might just be easier to kill me."

Greg let out a long, slow breath, trying to contain the flood of emotions he felt. He rubbed his eyes, and then gradually managed to get over his speechless state.

"Alright, that's it. Steven, we are leaving here and we are reporting this to the police. They'll find a good home for you until then-"

"NO!"

"No? No?! Why not?"

"I have to." He said, his voice wobbling. "I can't let myself kill anyone."

Taking a deep breath, the man tried to keep his cool. If he got mad, things would get nowhere. Kids didn't cooperate well with adults who seemed like they might get angry with them. The poor fella' already seemed scared as it was.

"I know you're not really, human, Steven. But I don't think willingly risking your life like that is well... Good for yourself."

The boy stepped away from him, his eyes growing wide with panic.

"How do you know that?!"

"Whoa, easy, easy. Calm down there. What is it that I know?"

"I'm..."

He gestured at his gem, and then at the rest of himself.

"I'm still not following you."

"I..."

Just then, the door to the temple opened. Pearl stepped outside, not even noticing Steven or Greg. Her eyes seemed to focus farther past them, fixated on some invisible object in the sky. She walked past of the both of them, towards the warp pad. Steven and Greg had both frozen when she appeared, and had not said anything.

"Oh, hello Steven." She absently said.

"Uh, hello?" He squeaked.

"Yes, that's nice..."

The duo waited for the moment that Pearl realized what she was doing, but it never came to pass. It was Garnet who got Pearl back on track when she came outside. When she exited the temple, the gem visibly tensed, and stared down the two.

"Pearl?"

"Hm? Hello Garnet."

"Pearl!"

She shook herself out of her trance.

"Oh, sorry Garnet. I must have been, what was it that Amethyst called it? Sleepwalking!"

"Pearl, pay attention."

Garnet pointed to Steven. Pearl had to give a double take, not quite believing her eyes. After a tense moment of silence, she asked;

"What are you doing back here?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"We... Better go inside and talk about this."

He obediently stepped forwards, but Greg pulled him back again.

"Whoa. No way. Absolutely not. I want an explanation right here and right now."

At any other point, Pearl would have battled this statement. But now, she was just too tired. Tired of fighting all the time, tired of trying to understand how she felt and why. She was just so tired. If she was going to let a human with a dubious amount of sanity dictate what they did, then so be it. She wouldn't try to stop him.

"Fair enough. Garnet?"

Garnet nodded, folding her arms over her chest. But she remained silent otherwise.

"What is it you need to know?"

"Everything!" He blurted. "Why are you doing this? What is Steven talking about?"

"I'm sure you're aware that our species is not from Earth."

"Yes, I'm aware."

"Steven recently showed up on Earth several months ago, and has been trapped ever since. The thing is, we can't let him leave because the Home World would discover us, and consequently destroy the planet. We've been trying to prolong the imminent war we will be faced with, and until recently, trying to prolong the life of one of our teammates."

"What do you mean by, until recently?"

"We were... Wrong in our assumptions. Amethyst ran off to find you Steven, to tell you. But I suppose Apatite..."

Her eyes strayed over to the bubble Amethyst was inside of. A part of Pearl wanted to run over and snatch the bubble away from him. The rest of her knew that Amethyst wouldn't be happy that it was her who had let her out. She'd still be furious no doubt. Amethyst probably hated her now. It was shameful, but true. All too true...

"You mean-?"

"You're not going to kill anyone." She sighed.

Steven fainted. Greg caught him just as he started to fall. But Pearl continued to aimlessly ramble, as if he could still hear her. Most of her words fell upon deaf ears however. Greg was only paying attention to Steven. Garnet didn't do anything. She didn't move, didn't speak. Even her expression was an oddly neutral one.

"I don't think you'd ever manage to do so even by accident. I just never realized it until now! Y-you're not her! You c-couldn't do the things she had too in war. You're Steven. Y-you're your own p-person."

Pearl was beginning to tear up again. Greg shied away from the gem. He wasn't always the greatest at comforting women when they were upset. If anything, they became more upset. There was no way he was going to take his chance with a bunch of space ladies. Not that he could ever bring himself to make the likes of them feel better.

Within a few seconds, he was able to get Steven to wake up again. His eyes fluttered open, a dazed expression upon his face. Greg had laid him out on the ground, but he didn't bother with trying to stand. He lay there peacefully, as if the chaotic life he lived had come to a pause, and he didn't feel the need to react.

Greg still kept his cool. Deep breath in, deep breath out. In, out... Try not to attack the profoundly overpowered magical space-rock-alien-lady. That was all he had to do. Just talk to her like a normal person. He could do normal. He could be normal. He had no problem with being perfectly normal. Even if he wanted to scream and yell at the others, he wouldn't. No one could make him angry except himself. He was the one who controlled his emotions, and he was the one who would ultimately decide if he would attack. Which he wouldn't. He'd stay perfectly calm. Perfectly... Calm...

"That about answers everything." Greg said. "But I just have a few follow-up questions."

Pearl waved a hand.

"If Steven is going to cause some sort of war, no matter what he does, why would you bother trying to stop him? Why didn't you let him go back home? It sure would have saved you a lot of trouble!"

"We thought he would kill Ruby." She reminded. "And besides. There's been no way to get on or off the planet since the war. It's not like we have a way to simply fix the galaxy-"

They did have a way now. All of the repair sealant that she had taken from Peridot's robonoids. No doubt she had confiscated enough for it to be rebuilt yet again. It had worked even when Garnet had finished the warp the first time. No doubt, this time wouldn't be any different.

"Let me guess, you just thought of a way to return him?"

"Yes! We can repair the warp and send Steven back! We could return him to the gem Home World and this would all be over with and-"

"That's not my home."

All eyes turned to Steven. He still lay flat on his back, staring up at the sky.

"But Steven, you're a gem! Don't you want to go back home?"

"I'm half-human too. I don't want to leave."

"Oh geeze! Way to leave out the important stuff!" Greg moaned. "Why was that never brought up? Where's Steven's human parent then? Why aren't they taking care of him?"

"None of us know how or why Steven's half-human." Pearl said.

"S stands for super-weapon." Steven whispered.

"What was that?" Greg asked.

Before Steven could answer, Pearl interrupted;

"You really don't want to go back?"

He shuddered in disgust.

"No. The most of the gems there are even worse than you."

No one bothered to argue against his comparison.

"But where to do you plan to live?" She asked. "Surely you don't think you can take care of yourself on an alien planet."

"I have a friend that would take him in. So long as you're fine with it Steven."

The boy gave a small nod. Greg straightened to his full height, and puffed out his chest. He wanted to seem at least a little intimidating in front of the others, even if they could easily change their mind and decide that they wanted to beat him to a pulp. But he hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

"I believe that settles everything then..." He awkwardly said.

"It does."

"I'll be in charge for his welfare from now on, and make sure that he's properly taken care of."

"Alright."

"We're leaving now." He said. "C'mon Steven, we'll need to talk to Vidalia before her sons come home."

"I can't get up."

The statement was said so calmly, Steven may have been commenting on the weather, instead of his dislocated leg. But he wasn't. An eerie sort of calm, collected, quiet had set over the boy. When Greg gave him a quick glance over, he noticed that his leg didn't seem to be quite in the right position. If anything, it was sticking out a little too far to be natural. But it wasn't broken again. His eyes instantly locked on the two gems.

"How did he dislocate his leg?"

The tone he used made it clear that he was accusing them of doing this to Steven.

"I don't know."

"Didn't you guys say he had healing powers? Why hasn't he fixed it?"

I don't know."

A slight sneer crept on to his face.

"Right. I'll just take him to a doctor then to get this fixed." He said. "We're leaving. For real this time."

Greg helped Steven up to his feet. The boy had no trouble standing on his own, and actually began to walk. Greg stopped Steven before he could get far, not wanting the boy to torture himself with an out of joint leg. It must have been really painful. Poor kid...

"Here's Amethyst back." He softly said, pushing the bubble towards Pearl.

Pearl was half-tempted to take the bubble. But the gem knew there was no way she could do that. Garnet no doubt thought the same thing. She still had not said anything about this. She was unmoving, as if the unfolding events had no affect on her. Pearl knew that wasn't true though. She was probably fighting to keep herself together too.

Lightly shaking her head, she pushed the green bubble back towards him. The boy didn't seem surprised. They stared at each other over the bubble, stared into his achingly familiar eyes. He was hurt. And it was her fault. She had been a part of the problem. She was the one who had caused this. Pearl had to look away, unable to hold his tired gaze any longer.

Eventually, he turned away as well.

"Can I have a piggy-back?"

The man chuckled, and then crouched over.

"Well I'm not going to make you walk on that busted leg of yours!" He suddenly straightened up before he could hop on. "One sec' kiddo', I just need to say something to the others. Adult stuff."

Then, the man walked towards Pearl and Garnet. He looked back a Steven, and then spoke in a harsh whisper;

"Stay the _hell_ away from him."

They could only tip their heads in understanding, rendered speechless by the actions of one man.

* * *

The emergency ward was never a fun shift to be working on. While it was never near as stressful as surgery, the influx of needy people and their germs was overwhelming. But as a medical doctor, she had long become immune to the disgusting atmosphere of the ER. So long as the operating table and tools were sterile, she didn't have to worry about sitting in the conditions that most did.

What was a problem for her though was that in a moment of weakness, she had brought Connie into work with her.

In theory, it had seemed like a good idea. Her violin was in for some minor repairs and changes, so Connie would have nothing to do from Six to Seven PM. It would completely throw off her schedule if she moved her study session an hour earlier, so there had to be something else that Connie could do in the meantime. So, she had brought her daughter to work with her, planning to give Connie a short tour around the hospital, and to reiterate the fact that she should not be doing anything dangerous. Once Connie had an hour to let that sink in, she could start her study session.

What she had not accounted for was that one of her co-workers would come down sick, and she would have to fill his shift in the ER. She couldn't very well keep Connie in the room with her while she gave diagnostics, that would completely break the rule about patient-doctor confidentiality. So, her daughter now had to sit in the same waiting room as all the coughing, sniffling, sick people! She might catch something deadly!

If not for the fact that the emergency room had been empty for the majority of the day. Which truly was a relief. That didn't stop her from disinfecting the plastic chair she was now sitting on. It was a decent seat, close enough to the emergency exit should something bad happen. Connie no doubt would be reading one of her textbooks. It was a quarter to exactly, so she would now begin on her mathematics. Algebra specifically. Questions twenty A, to thirty-four J. Which excluded the knowledge and understanding assessment question that she would check over...

Dr. Maheswaran continued with her internal rambling as she peered into the waiting room. She could see her next (And only.) Patient sitting exactly three seats left and two back from Connie. How dare that boy try to distract her?! He was probably distracting her! Somehow... Maybe... Not really... He was just sitting there.

" _Good posture."_ She idly noted.

But there was something... Wrong with him. Not just the fact that his hair was the most unnatural shade of pink she had ever seen and his parents should be disgraced that they allowed such a thing. Hair dyes held all sorts of unnatural chemicals. They could blister the scalp when not diluted correctly, and many of them contained straigh-up bleach! But beyond his hair, there was something off about him. Something that made her hair stand on end.

It wasn't the bruises or recently patched cuts and scrapes that covered him either. Something wrong with a person in the ER really should have been a given, but this was different. All the visible injuries she could see from her vantage point were oddly superfical. What was wrong with him? The boy patiently sat there, much unlike the majority of children in the ER. Normally there was screaming and crying, tiny, greasy, germy hands touching and grabbing everything, spreading germs across the area. But not him. The boy, who couldn't have been older than Connie, sat there, all on his lonesome.

That was soon rectified when a man walked up to the boy, and sat down next to him. He had two sandwiches from the hospitals caffeteria. A much better food option than the vending machine and public water fountain. Before either one of them ate, the man gestured to one of the hand-santizer dispensers. Instead of using his hand to pump, he used the back of his arm, and the boy copied his action.

" _Good hygene skills."_

"Dr. Maheswaran?"

The woman nearly jumped when she heard the voice of a nurse behind her. But twenty years in her proffession didn't mean she would jump at the mere sound of someone's vocie. Although, she would admit to being a little embarrased to being caught staring at one of the people in the waiting room. Straightening her posture, the woman held her hands behind her back.

"Yes Martha?"

Her voice was enough to stop the nurse from asking any questions. Insead, she tried to change the subject.

"I'm on my break in fifteen minutes." She squeaked.

"Do you have anything of _relevance_ to say?"

"I'll go tell the last patient that you're ready."

The boy and his father soon entered. Dr. Maheswaran lead them down the hall in silence, to where an unocupied room awaited. A quick glance at the boy showed her that there was something wrong with the upper half of his leg. His father was helping him walk. Once they reached the room, he picked the boy up so he could sit down on the table.

"Name?"

The boy didn't say anything.

"It's Steven." His father said.

"Last name?"

"He doesn't have one."

"How could your son not have a last name?"

The man stared at her incredously.

"What? He's not my son!"

Dr. Maheswaran glanced back and forth between the two. They _did_ happen to look alike, but she would take the man's word for it.

"Who are you in relation to him?"

"It's... Complicated. I'm tecnically his guardian, but-"

"Do you have legal custody over him?"

"He doesn't even have any legal papers. His past... Guardians seems like a bad description, care takers haven't done anything. No vaccinations, no passport, no nothing. But that's not what we're here for today."

"I should hope not. This isn't the proper channel for any of those things."

Dr. Maheshwaran looked back at the boy, Steven. He patiently sat still, only glancing around the room occasionally.

"His leg's been dislocated."

"Is that all?"

"It's the only thing he's complained about."

I'll need to see it to put it back in place."

He followed as intructed, and she got a better look at the misplaced part. Yes, it was certainly dislocated, sticking unnaturally out in spaces. It almost look like someone had picked the boy up by the ankle and shaken him around.

"Steven, I'll have to push your bone back into it's proper place." She explained. "This will hurt slightly."

He mutely nodded, and closed his eyes. With a quick push, his leg was set back into it's normal spot once again. Not one sign of pain showed upon his face when she did so. But she supposed that after a while, it would be a relief to have his leg set right once again. She gave Steven a sugar-calory-sodium-free lolly-pop, and sent the boy on his way. His... Guardian however, stayed behind to adress billing details.

"Is he mute?"

The man sadly shook his head.

"Ever since I found him-"

"You found him?"

"He was standing outside of his previous care-takers' house. They'd locked him outside."

"Were they the ones to dislocate his leg?"

"They danced around the question when I asked if they knew anything."

The doctor internally shuddered in disgust. She imagined Connie in the same position. Anger and pity overtook her doctorly instincts for a moment. She quickly regained her compsure, knowing that it would be completely unproffessional to get too personal with this. The patient had been treated, and he was in the hands of a competent guardian. There was nothing else that she should be concerned with, so long as she scheduled a check-up for the boy. A psych check-up should propably ensue as well. Although, those could be rather expensive, and if someone couldn't cover the cost of that...

"Do we really look like we're related?" The man asked.

"You bare a resemblance, yes. Why?"

"I just get it alot."

There was a brief pause between their conversation. The man glanced around the small room, while the woman inspected the jar full of individually sealed tongue-depressors.

"You plan to take care of him yourself?"

"He needs a really good home. I have a friend who's willing to take him in. She's good with children, and has a more stable income than me. But I'm still going to be caring for him as well."

* * *

Connie glanced over her textbook at the strange boy sitting in the waiting room. He had gone in to see her mom, and then had returned again. This time, without his dad. She was sitting a few seats behind him. Two actually. She had counted a few seats once she stared to get bored. There were fifty-two exactly.

Twelve of them were the kind that sat three people, two of them sat four people, and the remaining eight were single seats. All of them were made of the same, uncomfortable, cream-coloured vynl. It was torn and cracking on cerain seats, the stuffing inside spilling out. Almost all of them had some sort of stain on them. Connie really didn't want to know what the cause of any of those were. But the boy with the lolly-pop was much more interesting than the suspicious, yellow mark that was next to her leg.

She wondered if he had a lot of friends. Connie wished that she could work up the courage to talk to him. But her mom might come back at any moment, and see that she was not studying. Plus, he might laugh at her for something. But, as the clock ticked on, she found it harder and harder to face on the number of oranges Susie had purchased versus the number that Sal had. It was just so quiet in the room. There was no talking, people crying, and screaming babies. Just the constant hum of the hospital around them. And it was becoming impossible to deal with! Slowly, she closed her textbook. She had finnished all of her work anyways. This was either going to be really exiting, or really embarrasing.

Connie slowly made her way down the asile, until she was standing in front of the boy. He was blankly staring at the space in front of him, holding his still-wrapped lolly-pop in one hand. He didn't even seem to notice that she was there.

"Hi." She nervously greeted.

He seemed to snap out of whatever reviery he was in. The boy looked a little surprised to see her there.

"Hi."

"I like your hair."

He didn't say anything. Feeling a little anxious, Connie shuffled from foot to foot. She hoped that he didn't think she was too weird. Was it her glasses? Was that why he wasn't talking to her? Was it the medical mask that her mom had been making her wear ever since they came to the hospital? She probably looked like a complete weirdo!

"I'm only wearing the mask because my mom says I have to." She said. "I don't want to catch any airborn sicknesses. You have something do you?"

He shook his head, and pointed to his leg. Connie felt a little better, knowing that he was at least listening to what she was saying. And that he didn't have anything that was contagious.

"Oh. So my mom fixed it for you?"

He nodded.

"What was wrong with it?"

He made a face, and didn't do anything. The girl felt a stab of panic, wondering if she had done something wrong. This was how a conversation worked right? It had to be like this? Wasn' it? She had no idea whether or not asking about that was insensitive. Maybe he hated her now! What if he hated her and teasesd her about her glasses?!

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask. How about we try things again?" Connie offered her hand to Steven. "I'm Connie Mahaeswaran. Mashaeswaran with a W."

When he didn't try to shake her hand, Connie was certain that she had messed up. The girl felt her face heat up, and she frantically tried to find a way to save the conversation before everything went completely down the drain. Oh this was so humiliating! She was never going to get over this for as long as she lived!

Connie was startled out of her panic when he held out his lolly-pop to her.

"I'm Steven."


	24. Alluim Cepa L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooong lyric references!
> 
> ... I seriously have to stop using the show's lyrics as dialogue. Even if it is fun to add every now and again.
> 
> Sorry for the later update. I went out yesterday, and didn't get home until very late at night. Which, meant no chance to write.
> 
> (FF) Guest: Please pardon my ignorance on the matter. I always research topics I'm not familiar with for my writing, but I found myself wading in a lot of opinionated articles that didn't actually explain what I needed to know. There's a reason why things skipped back to Connie's POV when Dr. Maheswaran and Greg were talking about paying, and Dr. Maheswaran only saw Greg as he returned from somewhere with the sandwiches. She, and thus, the reader doesn't know how the whole "child with no legal documents who is also part space rock needs help" thing played out at the front desk.
> 
> Other FF Guest: Fixed the spelling. I have no idea where that extra A came from.
> 
> The word "cepa" is Latin for Onion. And onions belong to the genus Allium.

Steven woke up in an unfamiliar room in an even more unfamiliar house. The blankets were slightly worn, and the mattress was a little too soft for his liking. The blinds were drawn tightly shut, but there was still cracks of daylight reaching through. Steven didn't recognize the room. He had no idea where he really was. For a moment, he panicked, wondering where he was, and what had happened to him. But then all the memories came back. He was staying with a friend of Mr. Universe.

There were other humans that lived with her as well. When humans reproduced, they apparently kept their offspring until they could fend for themselves. The woman was... What had Apatite called them? Steven's stomach twisted, and he clutched his gem in pain. Apatite was gone. It was his fault that she was gone. If he hadn't told her to stop thinking about herself, she wouldn't have been in pain. She might have been able to remember who she really was, and reform properly. She never should have listened to what he said. The sickly feeling in his stomach grew worse.

Steven realized that he was feeling like he was trapped inside of the room. There wasn't much space in it for anything beyond a bed and a nightstand. In the corner, there was a small closet. He pulled open the blinds to let some light in the room. At least it made him feel a little less trapped. He could see the world outside. He could tell what was going on. There was no way do that when you were trapped in a bubble. Or in the cell from before. His stomach settled once more.

The boy made his bed, neatly tucking in the covers and smoothing out any wrinkles. Then, he sat down on the edge of it, and stared at the world outside. There were many dwellings lined up along the street. Most of them were shaped similarly, and had grass growing in the front. The ocean was only a blue streak on the horizon, barely visible against the clear blue sky. He watched the occasional car or pedestrian go by the house. No one seemed to notice that he was watching them. They all chose to stare elsewhere.

While he waited to be released, the boy started to count the cars that passed by. There wasn't much else that he could do anyways. But eventually, that grew boring. With a sigh, he flopped on to his back and stared at the ceiling. It was painted white, while the walls were a pale, orange-yellow colour. It reminded him of the many sunsets and sunrises that he had seen on the planet. The sharp, blue colour of the regular sky was a strange change from the hazy clouds on Home World.

It was difficult to see the suns through them, so he'd never witnessed the full rotation of the planet around the suns. In fact, he didn't know what the colour of the sky past the clouds was. Some gems said it was red. Others thought it was purple. But with all the bustle of the Home World, permanent clouds eventually formed around the sky. Pollution. The Earth didn't seem to have that problem though. The bright colour had grown on him. Not even the kindergarten could stop the sky above it from being blue. There was a soft knock at the door.

"Steven? Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Great! That's one less kid to drag out of bed!" Vidalia said. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

"Ok."

He heard the floorboards creaking as she left.

"WAKE UP SOUR CREAM! RISE AND SHINE BUDDY!"

"Mom! I told you not to do that!"

"Yeah, well you-"

The argument quickly faded, as Vidalia got her offspring out of bed. Steven was still amazed that she had not bothered to barge into his room like most people did up until this point. Usually a knock meant that someone was about to enter without asking anyways. He'd completely forgotten that there were gems that actually tried to respect other's privacy.

When he tried the door, it actually opened. That was even more astounding than the latter thing! It lead to a narrow hallway. There was a door across from him, and two more to his left. The last was at the end of the hall towards his right. There was a staircase on the left. Steven went to the stairs, and cautiously peered down. He could see Vidalia holding her son in one arm. The other was sitting at a table, and appeared to be sulking over something.

He tip-toed down the stairs, and shyly entered the room. Vidalia's older son didn't acknowledge him, still too busy being upset with whatever was bothering him. Her other son saw him, and asked to be put down. Vidalia did so, still preoccupied with whatever she was facing. He ran over to the table and took the seat next to his brother. He stared at him, without blinking. Steven looked away from him, slightly creeped out by this.

"U-uh, hi."

Vidalia turned her head, and then went back to whatever she was working on.

"Oh hey Steven! Sleep well?"

"Yeah."

The woman pointed a wooden spoon at the table.

"Don't mind those two." She said. "Sour Cream's still sleepy, and Onion's been up since three this morning."

"Ok."

He took the seat across from Onion. The boy was still staring at him strangely. Steven had to avert his eyes from him. Instead, the boy studied the room. It was a little worn, like the people here had been living in it for a long time. The floor was made of tiles, a few of which had cracks growing on them. The counter where Vidalia worked was covered in different appliances. There was a basket of fruit sitting in the middle of the table. The smell of food made his stomach growl. He had really missed eating human food. It was a lit better than raw fish was.

Onion grabbed a fruit from the bowl. Steven looked at him again. Onion was still staring at him. He didn't break eye contact as he started to peel the orange skin off the fruit. He made a mess with all the pieces, but did not seem to mind. The fruit was round, and just barely seemed to fit in Onion's hand. But, instead of eating it, he slowly started to crush the fruit in his hand. Juice and fruit guts ran down the boy's hand, but he did not seem to care about that. The entire time, he remained unwavering in his stare.

Alright. That was creepy. Steven figured that maybe it was just a normal human thing to do. Was crushing fruits some kind of pre-breakfast ritual? Should he copy what Onion had done? Sour Cream wasn't doing it. Maybe this was just a one-person thing to do? He wasn't really sure when it came to all these crazy human customs? What if he messed up? Onion picked up another fruit, and rolled it towards Steven.

This must have been a sign to copy him. He started to peel the skin off the tiny round fruit. It was an interesting texture, and it had a fragrant smell. It reminded him of the island that he and Apatite had lived on for a while. And the fruit monsters he had accidentally created. It was a good thing that humans didn't have magical powers in their spit. Now that he was going to become a human being, he wouldn't have to worry about accidentally creating monsters.

The peel came off in nice, large pieces. Steven wondered why the fruit was so oddly convenient. The inside was much softer, so it had the skin to keep it from being punctured. The inside of the fruit wasn't as circular as the outside. It seemed to be divided into small sections, and there was a hole on the top. He curiously tried to pry it apart, and sure enough, it did. So there were fruits that came in perfect slices and had a case around them to stay safe? How was that even possible?!

"Breakfast is served!"

Just before he crushed the fruit, a plate was placed in front of him. Onion and Sour Cream got theirs as well. Vidalia dropped a plastic bottle of something on the table.

"Make sure you eat that clementine before you have any pancakes. It'll taste gross if you save it for last." Vidalia glanced over at the mess Onion had made. "You too. Make sure to clean up the peel."

Onion nodded, and then ate the entire, crushed, clementine. Steven decided that maybe he should just eat his in the pieces they naturally came in. It seemed a lot less messy, and no one was morally offended when he did so. From across the table, Onion opened his mouth, revealing the messy, half-chewed clementine. Steven had to look away from him again.

Then, he looked to see what the others were doing. Vidalia had the plastic bottle, and was pouring something on top of her cakes made in a pan. She offered it to Sour Cream, who shoot his head and ate his food plain. Vidalia poured for Onion, and then handed it to Steven. He copied the action, tilting the bottle upside down and pouring a decent amount on his plate. He had a little more trouble figuring out how to use the fork and knife placed in front of him though. After a little fiddling, he got the hang of it.

The food was great. It was fantastic in comparison to what he had been living off of. He finished off his plate of pancakes, and a second clementine. The boy hadn't realized how hungry he really was until he got a chance to eat a full meal again. The pancakes were almost as good as the doughnuts. Maybe if sprinkles could be added to them, they'd been even greater. Or icing! But the syrup (Vidalia had been really good about naming things he wasn't familiar with.) Was great as well. Although, it did make his second clementine taste a little bitter that time around. He didn't really care about that though. It was just wonderful to eat again.

"Sour Cream, you're on dishes today." She said.

"But I did them last night!"

"And you're on them again." She informed him. "Onion will put them away for you, right Onion?"

Onion didn't say anything.

"See?" Vidalia asked. "He's not complaining!"

Grumbling, the teen got up from his spot, and started to collect all the dishes. He cleared off the table, and started to run some water in the sink. He pulled out a stool so that Onion could reach the sink, and handed his brother a tea towel. Steven stood as well, looking around uncertainly. What was he supposed to do now? What was the training schedule? Would he be able to keep up with them? Vidalia saw that he was unsure on what to do.

"Steven, you can help me pack up some stuff."

Sour Cream groaned.

"Where are we going this time?"

"Just to the beach. We're going to send a whole day of fun family quality time together!"

"Mom, I have school today."

"Nice try kidlet, but today's a PA day!"

Vidalia lead Steven to a large closet in the hall. She opened it, revealing a cluttered, disorganized mess of different things that had been stuffed into the closet. She turned on the light, and stepped inside. There was no extra room for Steven, so he stood outside in the hall. Vidalia hummed to herself as she rummaged around for something.

"Here's the beach umbrella... And we'll need the folding chairs..."

They soon had a large pile of things for the beach. Chairs, a cooler, sand toys, and countless other things. Yet that had still not made the slightest dent in all the things shoved in the closet. Steven helped the woman load some of the stuff into the back of her car. They had to make many trips and rearrange a lot of things before they managed to make it all fit. This all seemed like a lot of stuff to take to the beach, but perhaps it was necessary for humans.

The messy closet made Steven think about Amethyst's room. He hadn't really been in it for long. But he had passed by it a few times. She kept pules of stuff everywhere, just like this closet. And apparently, she never threw anything that she owned away. The situation seemed to be similar here. She and Vidalia were friends after all. So they must have shared some similarities.

"Where's Amethyst?"

"She's still in her gem." Vidalia said, wiping her forehead. "I'm holding on to her for now."

"I guess we should let her out." He glumly said.

"You don't have to be there, I can do it on my own."

"What if she gets mad at me?"

Vidalia rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I know Amethyst better than anyone Steven." She soothed. "Trust me, she'll be too mad at herself to ever be mad at you."

"Ok."

The woman broke into a grin.

"Cheer up! Things'll be fine. We're going for a beach trip, which means no worrying allowed."

* * *

The short drive to the beach was a little bit uncomfortable. With so much stuff in the back of the car, Steven and Onion were squashed together. Sour Cream sat in the front of the car, and was fiddling with ever single button that he possible could. Once or twice, Vidalia slapped his hand away from the radio. Steven tried to seem as much of a human being as possible. But it was hard with Onion staring at him the whole time.

It was a relief to spring free from the car. Vidalia made all three of them carry stuff out to the "perfect" spot on the beach. There, they set up the umbrella, and a few chairs. Vidalia grabbed her son's phone and tucked it in to her pocket. In the mean time, Onion took the bag of sand toys, and slowly dragged it closer to the water. He pulled out a spade, and started to dig a hole in the sand.

The sun was high in the sky now, and it was very hot out. Following Sour Cream's example, he pulled off his shirt, and put on a hat. Vidalia started to chase her son with a spray can of something, as he refused to put any on.

"Mom! That's the spray paint not the sunscreen!" Sour Cream yelled.

Vidalia stopped, heels skidding in the sand. She turned the white bottle over to read the label. It really was white spray paint. The woman fished through one of the bags she had brought and found the real sunscreen. Steven patiently let her spray the cold stuff on his back and face. Sunscreen was there to stop the Earth's sun from burning his skin. Apparently prolonged exposure to it caused many problems. It was important to wear it while in the sun.

Steven eventually joined Onion, near the edge of the ocean. This was a lot different than the river. At least there, he could see the other side. Here, the water just seemed to go on forever, growing more deep, until he couldn't escape. He dodged one of the waves that washed up on to the shore. For a moment, the boy thought he saw little hands reaching out to get him. It was just the sand and pebbles being pushed back and forth by the waves. Steven firmly repeated this to himself, until he had calmed down again. The water was not out to get him. The water was not going to hurt him.

Eventually, he joined Onion, kneeling on the sand near the water. Onion handed him a shovel, and pointed to the mount of sand that he had gotten, and then the hole. He grabbed another spade and started to dig again. Steven didn't understand why they were digging, but he copied Onion, digging a hole of his own. It wasn't long before the hole stared to fill with water.

They started to dig a small path between their two holes, joining them together. After that, they began making more, until a large, circular moat filled with water was made. Onion took some of the sand, and started to pile it in the middle. Steven realized that he was building something with it. Together they formed four smooth, square walls. It was almost like building their own little fort.

There was something oddly relaxing about constructing the fort. Building things always seemed a little boring to Steven. After all, was there really anything that great about it? But making the fort in the sand was fun. It was simple, and it was oddly satisfying to see the finished product. The beach in general was nice when no one was chasing after him or he was nearly drowned. The day was beautiful, and the sounds of the beach became almost soothing.

Every now and then, he got the feeling that he was being stared at. Steven realized it was Vidalia. She had stopped bothering Sour Cream, and had set up an easel. While she was focused on painting something, she still made sure to check on them. The woman did seem to be reasonably protective of her offspring. It seemed like they all got along... That didn't seem like the right way to put it. This was hard to explain. Even though they were different and liked to bother each other, he got the feeling they still cared. Was... Was that how a family worked?

Out of the corner of his eye, Steven saw something moving. He realized that his plastic shovel had been tugged away from him by a crab. It waved the shovel at him before scuttling down the beach. Right away, Steven jumped to his feet.

"Hey! Get back here with my shovel!"

For an animal with tiny legs, Steven had a surprising bit of trouble catching up to the crab. He came to where the bluffs began. Just as Steven turned a corner, he ran into someone. Steven was so focused on staring at the ground that he only saw someone's feet before he knocked both of them over. The shovel thief let go of his shovel to avoid being crushed when they fell to the ground.

Both of them groaned in pain. When Steven regained his bearings, he realized that he had run into someone familiar. It was the girl from the hospital. She got up and held out her hand. Steven realized that she was here to steal more of his stuff. First the lolly-pop, and now the shovel! He didn't want her to beat him up if he didn't do as he was told! Steven handed her the shovel and got up as well. Screaming in fear, the boy ran back to Vidalia.

Vidalia set down her paint brush when Steven ran up to her, screaming, and hid behind one of the chairs.

"Steven! What is it?"

"I-I- s-s-she took the shovel!" He cried.

"Who took the shovel?"

"T-the girl from the hospital!" He said. "First the lolly-pop and now this!"

"You mean the girl walking towards us?"

Steven peeked out from his hiding spot and nodded.

"Don't let her see me! She's gonna' take all my stuff away!"

"I'm sure that's not the case." She reassured. "C'mon, we'll go talk to her."

"What if she takes your car?!"

"Alright, now you're just being silly. I'll go talk to her."

"No! You can't!"

Steven grabbed on to her ankle and wouldn't let go. Vidalia supposed she should be flattered that Steven already liked her enough to cling on to her leg like this. But, they needed to settle this ordeal with the shovel first. They would gain nothing if she just let this slide. She wanted him to at least feel like she was capable of protecting him from harm. So, Vidalia started to drag a mortified Steven across the sand in the girl's direction.

"Uh, hello." She greeted. "I don't really need this shovel. Um, but thanks for it anyways?"

Vidalia took the shovel back from the girl. She seemed a lot more confused than malicious.

"Thanks. How'd Steven end up giving it to you?"

"Well, he kinda' ran into me, and when I tried to help him up, he gave me the shovel."

Steven abruptly stopped crying. He brushed the sand off of himself and stood up, no longer trying to weigh down Vidalia.

_"Whaaat?_ But you- the whole, stick hand out thing at the hospital-?"

"You mean a handshake?" She asked.

"A what now?"

The woman realized that Steven had no idea what a handshake was. She demonstrated by shaking hands with the girl.

"It's just how most people greet each other Steven."

"Oh."

A faint blush appeared on his face.

"Maybe, we should try again?" She asked.

"Er, yeah!" He nodded. "Hi, I'm Steven!"

"Connie."

Connie shook his hand. The two awkwardly tried to talk to each other for a bit. Vidalia was mentally setting up a play-date already. He needed to make a few human friends. It would help bring Steven out a little more, and maybe help build up some confidence. Plus, he really needed to understand people his own age. From what she knew, he'd been around gems his whole life. By gems, she meant adults. They didn't really seem to come in any other form than adult. Except for Amethyst, who was sort of just finished with growing up.

"So Connie, I haven't seen you around Beach City before."

The girl's shoulders sagged a little bit.

"We move around a lot for my Dad's job."

"Well Steven's new to Beach City as well, and he's been looking for a friend."

"You have?" "I have?"

"Yes." Vidalia nudged him closer to Connie. "Go be friends."

Steven started to stutter, and nervously twisted his fingers around. Connie seemed just as flustered by the prospect.

"As much as I'd like to stay, I have tennis practice soon." She said. "But I'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh, what a coincidence! Steven knows how to play tennis and he will be here at this exact same time in the same spot tomorrow!"

"Oh. Ok. Uh, bye."

The girl ran off across the beach. Vidalia had to stifle a laugh when she heard the girl cheer in excitement, skipping high into the air. At least one of the two was excited to be making a friend. Steven looked a little frozen. Was that a gem thing? Did gems freeze when they were super excited about play dates?

"So Steven, you ready for a crash course in tennis?"

* * *

Vidalia drew the blinds, and made sure that the door was double-locked. Sour Cream was sleeping over at a friend's house, while Onion and Steven had already been put to bed. A good long day of sun and fresh air would mean that they'd be sleeping in no time. She however, was nowhere near ready for bed.

Vidalia switched the kitchen lights on. The flickered a little, but stopped once she gave the wall a light tap. Part of the circuit was right behind that spot. She quietly walked across the cold floor, and grabbed the kettle. There was already enough water, so she turned it on. Vidalia pulled out a jar of instant coffee and some sweetener.

While the water started to boil, she travelled back upstairs to her room. She skipped the squeaky step and slid past the loose floorboard in the hall. She could hear Onion's snoring, even from behind the closed door. Steven however, had left his door wide open. Must've been a preference thing. He had left his blinds wide open, letting the moon and the lights shine inwards. Vidalia failed to see that Steven wasn't asleep. He was sitting up in bed, staring fixedly at the stars outside.

She slowly opened the door to her room. She had put Amethyst far out of Onion's reach. Which was saying something. The kid was like a little monkey when he wanted to reach something. But she actually had a jewelry box that was large enough to accommodate the bubble surrounding her. She had gotten the box from Yellow Tail for their fifteenth anniversary. It was plain on the sides, but there was a small, impossibly detailed picture of the ocean on it. Sea birds flew above it, a each and every feather accounted for. The intricacies of it never failed to amaze her.

On the side of the box, there was a small password lock. Using her thumbs, she rolled through the twenty-six tiny letters until she'd spelled the password. (Allium Cepa L.) It sprung open, revealing her engagement ring, and Amethyst. She carefully let her hand hover over the bubble, like Steven had shown her. She kept it there until it started to follow her. Apparently it was something that was harder for humans to do. Even it was possible.

She shut the box again, and lead the bubble down the stairs. All while avoiding the same precautions from before. The soft sound of footsteps caught her attention, but Vidalia ignored it. It was probably just one of the boys getting up to use the washroom. The water in the kettle had stopped boiling by the time she reached downstairs. She grabbed two mugs and put a little instant coffee in both. Amethyst took sugar and cream in hers, even though the taste never really seemed to bother her. Vidalia had hers black. She prepared both, and then sat them next to each other on the table. Vidalia took a seat.

With a prod of her finger, she popped the bubble, and sat Amethyst's gem on the ground. It started to glow almost instantly. A white silhouette emerged from the light. It was featureless, but unmistakably Amethyst's. She seemed to grow a little larger, and then her hair grew. With a final flash, Amethyst had reformed once again.

"Where's Steven?!"

Amethyst had taken on a fighting pose, and was sharply looking around the room for the person who had let her out. Vidalia cleared her throat. Amethyst turned around. When she saw her, Vidalia was immediately swept up into a bone-crushing hug. Vidalia felt her feet lift off the floor. Had Amethyst grown taller?

"I thought I'd never see you again!"

"I'm still here Pal."

Amethyst let go of Vidalia. She stumbled backwards, obviously still a little dazed. Amethyst's clothes hadn't changed at all, but there was definitely something different about her friend. Her normally impossible to tame hair seemed a little less wild than it had once been. The shape of her face looked a little less rounded. Amethyst looked, older. Yet at the same time, she had hardly changed at all.

"How long have I been gone for? Where's Steven?"

"He's fine." She said. "He's sleeping upstairs now. And before you ask, yes, he knows that you were trying to tell him about Garnet's future vision."

Amethyst relaxed a little more after hearing this.

"And the others?"

"I'm taking care of Steven for now. They've agreed to leave him alone."

"What about Apatite?"

"Who?"

"The gem he was on the run with."

Oh. Well, she certainly hadn't heard that part of the story. But that meant Greg had no idea either. There was still so much they had no idea was going on right now. How long would it be until the entire series of events would be revealed? She really wasn't in the mood for any more surprises that would cause difficulties.

"I had no idea that happened." She said. "I'm still not clear on everything that's happened."

"Well, it's a bit of a story."

"Gems don't need to sleep."

It seemed more like a command to talk than an invitation. Amethyst sat down at the table. There was already a cup of coffee there, waiting for her. Vidalia clearly wanted some answers to things. She didn't seem as excited to see her. If anything, she seemed a bit skittish. She was trying not to make any prior judgements about what had happened. Well, it was a good thing that she was willing to talk about it.

"I never really liked what we were doing to him." She vouched. "I don't think any of us really did. But Garnet and Pearl have been around for like, ever. They've been through war, and they've killed other gems. I don't think it's that easy to forget things like that. They just got used to it after a while."

"Would it be acceptable if he was just a gem?"

She vehemently shook her head.

"At first I thought it was fine with enemies, but this was way too far."

"I meant on his home planet."

"Everyone makes it sound like it is."

Vidalia took a sip from her coffee. But Amethyst's remained untouched. She didn't feel like she could eat anything right now. Not when her friend seemed so tense. Amethyst was waiting for some kind of explosion of emotion. She half-expected her to get mad, throw her out of the house. Amethyst wouldn't really blame her if she did.

But Vidalia didn't. She closed her eyes and tightly clasped her hands together, squeezing with all of her might. Her veins stuck out from underneath fragile, pale skin. The wrinkles, the greying hairs, suddenly, she was aware of how old her friend looked. Tired, and ancient. Like she had lived a lifetime and back of exhaustion. When she opened her eyes, they were glazed with unshed tears.

"I have two sons, Amethyst." She began, taking in a shuddering breath. "I care about them with every fibre of my being. And knowing what little I do so far, if either of them were in a position like he was, I wouldn't hesitate to kill the people doing it. I know that things were much worse than Greg and I have been told. I don't want to hear the details about any of the disgusting, _abominable_ things that boy has gone through. What I do want to understand, is how I completely missed that this was happening, and my best friend was involved in it."

The world went silent. Even the omnipresent sound of the ocean seemed to grow quiet as they sat at the kitchen table. An irritable-sounding buzz came from the lights in the kitchen, and the fridge quietly hummed. The cat-clock on the wall continued to tick on. The alternate "ticks" and "tocks" grew louder, more present with each second that passed by.

"I'm waiting."

"I really don't know."

"Am I really that far out of the loop? Even though you told me you felt like things were turning bad, I didn't realize what was going to happen? I thought I'd know if something went wrong, that you'd talk about it."

"Everything happened so fast." She responded. "One second it seemed like a minor problem and we could focus on other things, and the next, we're trying to lock a kid up until we all die."

"Is that what you thought would happen to you?" Vidalia asked. "When you were bubbled?"

"Yeah. I got a lot of time to think, believe me. I always thought I might be bad, but now I'm sure that it's true."

"Amethyst!" She snapped. "Being born in a kindergarten doesn't mean that you're bad!"

"It's not that."

Vidalia calmed down once again.

"Then what is it?"

Sweeping an arm through the room, Amethyst sighed.

"You and Greg have taken him in, and you've managed to scare off Garnet and Pearl."

"What about that?"

"It's 'cause I think you're so good!" She said. "And I'm nothing like you!"

Vidalia rested a hand on her shoulder.

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends."

Amethyst sniffled and rubbed her eyes. Vidalia did the same. All of a sudden, both of them had burst into tears and were crying all over each other. They hugged, both trying to get the other to stop crying, while still sobbing themselves. It failed miserably, neither of them could do it. So instead, they cried. They sniffled and sobbed until they couldn't cry any more. Neither one paid any mind to the snotty, salty mess they were making on each other's shoulders.

It eventually turned into a quiet sadness, as neither one of them could make any more tears fall. Vidalia was hiccoughing, and Amethyst was in bad need of a tissue. Neither one could bring themselves to let go of the other. So instead, the two friends held on to each other, both silently vowing to make sure that things would change.

Steven eventually turned away from the sight of them crying. The climbed back upstairs to his bed. Now that he knew who had been talking downstairs, he felt much less restless. The boy fell asleep soon after.


	25. Bubble Buddies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to call this chapter Two Claustrophobic Children Trapped in a Bubble, but, there wasn't enough room for it. So, I stuck with the original episode title. But just know that when I say Bubble Buddies, I really mean Two Claustrophobic children trapped in a bubble.
> 
> Guest: My answer to your question takes up about 1,650 words out of the in this chapter, and will continue on within the next few ones.

_"Whatwouldshethinkwhatwouldshethinkwhatwouldshe-"_

**_Crack!_ **

"... Forgot that was-"

_"Whatwouldshesaywhatwouldshesaywhatwouldshesay-"_

**_Crunch!_ **

"Ugh! Stupid doughnut!"

_"Whatwouldshedowhatwouldshedowhatwouldshedowhat-"_

**_CRACK!_ **

The disembodied voice and sounds of destruction were all lost on Pearl. She was floating on the floor of her room. Only the gem's face stuck out from the water as she stared at the ceiling above. The arteries that lead towards the heart of the temple seemed darker than usual. While she lay on the surface of the water, the pulse of the Crystal Heart could be heard throughout. It was a steady, omnipresent sound, never speeding up or slowing down. One day it would stop though. Whether the cause would be it's destruction or old age was debatable.

Everything came to an end. Gems were scratched and chipped until they no longer had the power to reform. Others simply stopped... Functioning, unable to work. They were dormant. Corruption may as well have been death. With no way to fix it, a gem lost everything they ever had. They forgot the life they lived, and weren't themselves. Corrupted gems were monsters, _abominations._

Just like her. Just a simple, lesser pearl, who knew nothing about anything. It wasn't bad enough that she had defected to the other side of the war, but she had already been truly defective to begin with. At least the corrupted gems didn't know what they were doing. But she had been aware, and had never even realized what they were doing was wrong. It seemed like a simple choice. One person versus the planet that they'd vowed to protect, and their own teammate.

But Garnet's future vision had been wrong. They couldn't have realized that such a minor detail would effect everything! They had been doing the right thing until they discovered the complications! How could it not be? There was sound reason for their actions. Perhaps they could have been a little less harsh with their methods, but extra force was needed! Wasn't it? Even with it, they hadn't managed to get Steven though. Had they actually managed to do something useful?

It had been months since they'd gone on a mission to catch a corrupted gems that caused problems. The world had been surprisingly sound even with them doing nothing. Did that mean their work over the years was for nothing? They'd trapped dangerous monsters again and again. Yet, even with them doing nothing, the planet was fine! What use were the Crystal Gems if they couldn't make the slightest impact with their actions?

The Earth was known for always finding away around it's problems. It held a surreal balance, that even outside forces could not alter. The battlefields became actual fields again, the bases and labs had eventually succumbed to nature. Only the kindergarten remained untouched. There had been attempts to revive it again. By manipulating the plants, they could make the place useable again.

Before... Everything, Rose had worked on finding a way to heal the land. To make an organism strong enough to fix everything. Pearl only had limited knowledge of those plans though. Rose had never been comfortable talking about what was involved. She'd only ever brought up the acronym for something. Super-weapon. Home World was never subtle when it came to their names for things. They were never subtle with anything they did. This was why there were planets and portions of this one that were destroyed. Now there was no way to bring back those planets.

Perhaps if Steven were to experiment with his powers... Of course, he wasn't being a gem anymore. He'd decided to live out the rest of his time on Earth as a human. A part of Pearl felt concerned by this. If, _when,_ Home World came to retrieve him, they would not be pleased. He'd be marked as a traitor, or simply killed on the spot. Either way, the outcome would not be pretty for him.

A wave of nausea washed of the gem at her next thought. Steven _knew_ he'd be killed. Yet he still chose to take the route that he did. He could leave though, escape here unharmed and leave everyone else to die. He'd made his distaste of the planet well-known. Why would Steven chose to die away from home? He'd still be able to live a long life, high-up in gem society if he lied...

He was much more like Rose than she had ever truly realized.

The twisting sensation of sickness grew stronger. Pearl had accidentally floated from the middle of her room to one of the waterfalls. She was pulled down almost instantly. The gem held her breath the entire, dizzying ride down. She landed in a rather shallow pool of water. The impact was jarring, making her gasp in pain. Of course, this caused the gem to inhale a mouthful of salt water. She eventually recovered from the fall, and clumsily heaved herself out on to the rocks.

She had to sit there, still in a daze as she recovered from her fall. But eventually, a rustling sound caught her attention. Could it be the slinker?! Pearl knew for a fact that the annoying pest was still... Slinking around the temple! No one knew what it was doing or what it was, but the slinker was most likely some kind of evil gem entity. And it probably did something evil to the temple! They couldn't really be sure. Although, they had gone all these years with nothing bad ever happening. Perhaps hunting the slinker would get them nowhere. It sure seemed like it did. She would leave the monster be for now. So long as it didn't attack her first. Amethyst had been poofed by it several times, as it liked her room the best.

Amethyst...

Getting to her feet, the gem grabbed her spear, and prepared to make her way out of the room. There was a long set of stairs with her name on it, waiting for her to climb up them. Pearl walked around the piles of things in Amethyst's room, and did her best not to think about her missing teammate. That would become a great deal more difficult for her. When she walked around another pile of things, her spear hit the largest, most obnoxiously coloured doughnut she had ever seen. Complete with Amethyst's face in the middle.

Pearl stared at the doughnut incredulously, wondering if she was really seeing what she was. The gem had to rub her eyes. All too many times she had been tricked by dreams. It was one of the few downsides to sleeping. The mismatched puzzle of fantasies seemed all too real.

But she'd finally begun to understand why Amethyst had enjoyed sleeping so much. Resting was oddly relaxing, and she felt like she could escape the problems they now seemed to be surrounded by. This had to be a dream though. There was no reason for Amethyst to be wearing a large, pink-frosted doughnut. Pearl was too startled to stop herself from blurting out;

"What are you wearing?"

"It's called a _uniform."_ Amethyst replied. "It's what you wear when you get a job."

"But, you don't need a job!"

"Well you need a job to make money, so yeah, I do." She said. "I wave a sign outside the Big Doughnut and everything starting today."

"Money?"

"Money. It's how you buy things like food, and pay off expensive medical bills to fix dislocated legs."

Steven... Of course. He couldn't use his healing powers anymore. Amethyst's eating habits could get quite expensive as well. It only made sense that they would need money to pay for their new lifestyle. Pearl summoned the human currency she kept within her gem's pocket dimension. She held it out to Amethyst, but she refused to take it.

"Why are you back here?" Pearl asked. "I thought-?"

Amethyst wriggled her shoulders, drawing attention to the box of things that she was holding. It was stuffed to the top and then some with various objects that she had hoarded away over the millennia. Pearl actually recognized some of the things and their specified piles. The globe went with the round objects pile, and those knives were supposed to go with the sharp objects on the other side of the room! It was even more of a disorganized mess than it usually was!

"I gotta' eat _somehow._ Vidalia can't afford to feed me and Steven at the same time, so I'm helpin' out with money and junk." She explained. "I don't have enough room in the storage locker for everything, so, some of it's got to go."

"You're _selling_ your stuff?"

She blew the bangs out of her face.

"Not all of it."

Pearl was now certain this was a dream. Amethyst willingly selling off her precious things could not be right. The conversation was somehow too normal, to relaxed to be anything but fake. This was all fake! It was just a dream! She would wake up back in her room and Amethyst would be gone again! This wasn't happening because Amethyst didn't do stuff like this! It was all wrong and she knew it!

"Well, uh. I'm leaving now."

Both gems awkwardly looked away from each other, as they remembered the circumstances. Pearl rubbed the back of her neck, and shifted in her spot.

"Bye."

"Later."

Amethyst waddled off in her obscenely massive costume, neon sparkles and all. Pearl stood there, still waiting to wake up, for the entire dream to be over. It didn't seem to end. She just stared at the empty space where Amethyst had once been. The fake Amethyst. The real one was still mad at her. She would have lashed out, trying to fight her. This was all just a dream and she would wake up soon.

"Pearl?"

She received a light shake on the shoulder. Pearl looked up at Garnet, who was now staring at her.

"Were you sleepwalking again?"

Pearl looked back at the spot where the fake Amethyst had been, and then at the outstretched handful of cash in her grasp. Slowly, she nodded.

"Yes. It was just a dream..."

* * *

When Steven got up the next morning, he was surprised to discover that his door was closed. Had Vidalia realized that he had watched her talk to Amethyst? He was certain that she heard him come down the stairs. Well, he was in trouble for it. She probably wouldn't let him out for a while now. Steven just hoped that it wouldn't be for too long. He really wanted to get something to eat.

While he waited to see when he would be released, the boy got dressed. Humans apparently had this thing about not wearing the same clothes two days in a row. He'd received a lot of the clothes that were now too small for Sour Cream, but still to large for Onion. Most of them fit rather well. And he admittedly did like getting to choose between different clothes, without having to be injured in the process.

Steven didn't wait as long as yesterday before trying to open the door. Surprisingly, it opened. When he walked down the hall, no one was there to stop him. He carefully entered the kitchen. Vidalia was already sitting at the table. She had an untouched bowl of cereal in front of her. One hand was holding a spoon, and the other held a newspaper that she was squinting at. There were lines under her eyes, probably because of how late she had stayed up with Amethyst.

"Mornin' Ste-" Vidalia paused to yawn. "Steven. Have any trouble sleeping?"

She knew. She definitely knew that he had heard their conversation. Yet, he hadn't gotten in any trouble for it. Did that mean she was testing him, waiting to see if he would tell the truth? It was best to be honest anyways. There would be a long talk about what had happened, even if she didn't get mad at him for lying.

"I had trouble sleeping."

Vidalia glanced over the paper, and gave a slight nod. She knew that he knew that she knew that he... That was just confusing. Steven just knew that there was now an understanding between them, and she was not mad that he'd been eavesdropping. That was a good thing. The boy did not hesitate to take a seat across from her. He reached for a clementine and started to peel it.

"Is there something I can do to help it at all?"

Help? How could someone help him to stop thinking about his time on Earth? It was hard not to, when he was surrounded by reminders the entire time. It was a blue and green planet. Just like the two friends he had made and lost. There was no possible way he could ever forget. Not when it was so easy to remember it all.

"Please don't close the door." He finally said. "It makes me feel trapped."

"Sure thing. I'll make sure to tell Onion and Sour Cream as well."

Steven noticed that neither of her sons were present.

"Where are they now?"

"Today's a Tuesday, so Sour Cream's got summer school. Onion's probably off to wait for Yellow Tail. He'll be back for a few nights."

Vidalia finally started to eat her cereal. She lay the newspaper flat, and marked her page. Steven ate a few slices of the clementine, curiously trying to make sense of the words on the page. It all seemed like one solid block of weird, black squiggly lines in his eyes. Yet they were somehow supposed to form words? Did each shape mean something? Why were some of them larger than others?

"You wanna' read the comics?" She asked, pushing the paper towards him.

Steven shook his head.

"I can't read."

"I thought gems could instantly translate things."

"I can speak. I just can't read and write like a real gem."

"We'll have to get you caught up on that then."

"Today?"

"We can't start today! You're meeting Connie, remember?"

Well, he had been trying _not_ to remember. But that hadn't lasted long. Somehow, he'd been hooked into spending more time with this, Connie. He just didn't understand why though. What were they supposed to do together? This, play date was an entirely foreign concept to Steven. What did the dates and times have to do with playing? What were they playing? Instruments? But wouldn't the sand get in the way?

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is! You need to get to know people your own age!"

"But I don't get human things! It'll be embarrassing!"

"The only way you'll learn is through experience." She said. "You can't learn everything from a teacher. Some things have to be figured out on your own."

"Will there be a test?"

"What? No! We'll just go to the beach so you can hang out with her!"

"I thought this was a play date!"

"It is!"

"Then how do I hang out?! What is a hang out?"

Vidalia chuckled slightly, but tried to stop herself. Steven didn't see what was so funny though. He was being set up on some kind of test of embarrassing proportions! First the girl would want him to hand something over, then she'd expect him to say his name and they would have to talk to each other about weird personal things. He didn't get why telling her his favourite colour was so vital to the human experience!

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing." Vidalia said, smothering another laugh. "You just remind me of Yellow Tail when he first started to date. He got all nervous and had no idea what to do either. It's cute though."

"Cute?"

"That's a good thing." She assured. "Learning people things will be awkward at first, but you'll get the hang of it in a snap."

* * *

Steven tried to repeat that to himself as he walked along the beach. Vidalia had already set up a chair and umbrella. When Steven looked back at her, the woman gave him a thumbs up and a large grin. Steven weakly returned it, and continued his slow shuffle to the bluffs. He could see Connie sitting in the shade, focused on a book she was holding. Steven mentally prepared himself for what was the come, and then stuck out his hand.

"Hi! My name is Steven!"

Connie looked up from her book, seemingly surprised by his sight.

"Y-you actually came!"

What did he say back to this?! Why hadn't she shaken his hand? Connie stood up, closing her book as she did so. What did he say? What was he supposed to do?! Steven looked at the emergency list of sayings Vidalia had written down on his hands. He tried to find one that would fit, but came up blank. Steven then remembered that he couldn't read the human language.

"Hi! My name is Steven!" He repeated, a little less enthusiastically than before.

"I know that."

"Hi. I my name is Steven."

The girl's smile started to waver. Steven started to feel more nervous. Why couldn't he speak?! Why wasn't he able to think of something to say? What was a normal human thing to say?! This should have been so easy! Yet for some reason, he was just too scared to do anything!

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"Hi! My name is-"

Connie sat back down on the sand, opening her book once again.

"I should've known this was just a joke." She sighed.

"Hi... My name is..."

"Just go, please."

Steven gave a sad nod and turned to leave. He had failed the test. Everything had gone wrong! Horribly, horribly wrong. Steven was only a few steps into his long journey back to Vidalia when the ground started to rumble. He and Connie looked around in confusion, trying to find the source of the quake. It was too late for Connie to realize part of the ledge above had dislodged, but it wasn't for Steven.

Turning back to Connie, he ran towards her, and made a bubble around them.

"HI! MY NAME IS STEVEN!"

The rocks bounced harmlessly off the bubble, and the earth quake stopped. Steven however, was still catching his breath after the sudden burst of adrenaline wore off. Connie was simply amazed by the fact that a large, pink sphere had suddenly grown around the both of them.

"What just happened?"

"The rocks were about to fall on you!" He explained.

"But, how did _this_ happen?" She asked, gesturing to the bubble.

Steven hung his head.

"I'm half-gem."

He waited for an angry reaction, but got none.

"So, you're magic?" She eagerly asked.

"I guess so." He slowly said. "But I don't want to be!"

"But, you just saved my life!" Connie exclaimed. "If you weren't magic I would've died!"

"You're right." He admitted. "But it's still awful. That's why I'm learning how to be human!"

"Wait, so that was why you were acting so weird?"

Finally, it had been put into words! Steven nodded, glad that there was a way to explain what he was thinking. He'd also got the same-old questions about who and what he was out of the way. Humans really didn't seem to care that he was part gem. In fact, most of them had no idea what a gem was. It was strange and reliving to know that humans didn't have a problem with him existing.

"Yeah! I just didn't know how to say the thing that you said with the words and... Yeah!"

"I thought you were just joking."

"But that's not even funny!"

"Some people think it is."

"Well some people are jerks." Steven declared.

Connie laughed a little.

"So, are you going to get rid of this bubble?"

Steven remembered they were still trapped.

"Oh, of course!"

He dramatically swept his arms around, and clapped his hands. But nothing happened. Steven tried again, and then for a third time. When it didn't pop, Steven tried to laugh it off. But within seconds he was clapping as quickly as he possibly could, trying to make it go away. But the thing stubbornly remained in place.

"Ah ha. Ha... That's magic for you." He nervously said.

"We're trapped aren't we?"

"Yes."

Both children took long inhales, trying to stay as calm as possible. Neither of them were able to realize how frightened the other was over their own social and space-related fears.

"We should find a trust-worthy adult." Connie said. "They'll know what to do."

"Right. We can ask Vidalia!"

Together, the pushed against one side of the bubble, and started to walk. It was difficult to move the bubble from it's place in the sand, but once they got it out, things became easier. By the time they reached Vidalia, they had built up so much momentum that they continued to roll past her, even when they stopped. Vidalia saw this, and instantly jumped up from her chair. The woman did a funny dance when her bare feet hit the sizzling-hot sand. She remembered to slip on her shoes, and then headed towards them.

"Steven! What happened?"

"Magic stuff." He sighed. "I can't get rid of it."

"Do you know what to do?" Connie asked.

The woman tapped her foot and pressed a finger to her lips. She stared at them for a second, and then returned to where her beach chair and umbrella were. The woman grabbed a large, mesh bag that was full of art supplies. She sorted through it until she found what she needed.

Vidalia then returned. Without a warning, she revealed that she was holding a large exacto knife. With a running jump, she brought the knife down upon the top of the bubble. There was a dull "thunk," and Vidalia landed backwards in the sand. Stunned, she looked at the newly broken knife in her hands.

After she got over her shock, Vidalia stood up again.

"New plan kiddos." She said, brushing the sand off her jeans. "We'll get Amethyst to handle this."

* * *

"Sorry, Amethyst's still on her break."

"Alright, new plan! My husband's a sailor, so I know a thing or two about harpooning things." We'll go to the docks and break his sucker!"

"New plan! We take the bubble back to my place and try shooting it!"

"Er, new plan. We run away from here before the cops find out! And we'll see if Amethyst's off her break now!"

"Uh... New plan! If we take this to Fun World, there should be some way we could make this bubble break!"

New plan, new plan, _new plan!_ Connie was getting sick of hearing the phrase after the second time she heard it. Now they were on what felt like the millionth attempt to break them out of this crazy, magical bubble! A whole afternoon had gone by, and still, nothing could break them out of this pink prison.

Bullets didn't work, knives didn't work. Not even a harpoon had been able to destroy the thing! Everything had backfired! The knife broke, the bullets broke a window, and an entire trawler had been sunken when they tried to use the harpoon gun! How was a roller coaster going to solve their problems any better than this?!

Fun Land admittedly looked like a fun place to be though. There were countless rides set up, filled with people laughing and screaming. There were groups of friends eagerly waiting in line, a young couple holding hands and wearing goofy, love-struck grins. Another couple was carrying an enormous stuffed rabbit that they'd won from a game. The place was crowed with people enjoying themselves. They had to push their way into one of the lines to where the most dangerous-looking roller coaster was. The sun was sinking in the sky, but the amusement park was only starting to grow brighter.

A rainbow-coloured haze of lights flickered against the orange-tinted sky. Even through the bubble she was trapped in, Connie could smell all of the fair food. A lot of it looked great. The ruby-red candy apples, the giant, buttery-yellow bags of freshly cooked popcorn, and even the soft pink and blue candy floss looked tasty. The colour of the cotton candy reminded her of Steven's hair. But it also made her wonder what having sugary foods was like. The only sweets she ever got were free of nearly everything but colour.

"So, what is this, Fun Land?" Steven asked.

"It's an amusement park." Connie explained. "People go here to have fun."

"Oh. So this is the human idea of fun?"

Connie looked around at the things she would never get the chance to experience.

"I guess."

They watched in silence as a car filled with people passed the track in front of them.

"How to they choose who gets tortured?"

"Wait, what?"

Steven gestured to the twisted pathway of tracks before them.

"The people who are screaming." He said. "Are they criminals? Did they betray the planet?"

"The ride is the fun part!" She giggled.

"But the screaming-"

"Everyone's just having fun." She said.

"They're not being tortured?"

"No."

"Humans don't find it, fun to watch people being tortured?"

The words rang alarm bells in Connie's mind. Without trying to seem obvious, she looked at Steven from the side of her glasses. His face was blank and impassive, leaving no indication was to what he thought. Connie didn't like the sensation she felt now, and tried not to think about what Steven had just said.

"Do you think it's fun?" She asked.

"I pretend to." He admitted. "Gems aren't supposed to be afraid or disgusted by it."

Connie tried not to think about the implication that he had seen others being tortured before. She did her best to keep calm, and focus on how he said that he didn't like it. That was good at least. Steven was just a little different. But so was she. He was trying to understand what normal people were like, so he wouldn't know the difference between what was right and wrong in their culture. Gems were from space, weren't they?

The lined shifted forwards, and the two rolled with it. Vidalia stood off to the side, and was reading something on her phone. She had one hand on the bubble, but was doing her best to give Steven and Connie their space at the same time. Soon, they reached the end of the line. Seeing how high above the ground they were made both Steven and Connie have second doubts when it came to Vidalia's latest plan. Neither one was given the chance to say otherwise, as she pushed them on to the track.

They started to roll down the hill, right to where another car was waiting. Steven and Connie were sent tumbling over each other as they were pushed. Connie felt her glasses fall off. The world morphed into a large, dizzying blur of pink. The roller coaster came to an abrupt stop, but the bubble was sent flying off the tracks. There was a loud splash, and then a popping sound. Connie inhaled a mouthful of cold, salty water.

Coughing, the girl it out, and started to tread water. She saw Steven resurface not far away from her, glasses in hand. He coughed up some water as well. He doggy-paddled over to her, and handed Connie her glasses. The girl wiped the water off of them, and let her vision clear again.

She could see the lean figure of Vidalia waving at them from the pier.

"The plan worked!" She shouted.

A laugh slipped past her. Connie didn't know what came over her, but she broke into a fit of giggles, and was unable to stop. Steven joined in as well. They laughed until their sides hurt and they started to swallow the water once again. Fighting for breath, while trying to swim at the same time. They only stopped their inexplicable laughter when something stirred underneath their feet, something solid.

"Did you feel that?" Connie asked.

Steven nodded, and got a mouthful of water in the process.

"It felt like another one of those earth quakes."

The water began to grow choppy, nearly rising above their heads. Connie and Steven started to swim back to the shore, using the sudden waves to help them. They felt the thing underneath their feet. Whatever was following them made Connie try to swim a little faster, as she started to feel slightly worried.

"Uh, Connie?"

Steven pointed to a spot in the water. Something was clearly swimming towards the from the shore. But neither could she was it was. The thing's head poked slightly above the water, and it gradually paddled their way closer to them. Connie didn't know what to do about the thing, and neither did Steven. Could it be a shark? She knew that sharks lived in the ocean, and they were out far enough for it to be a shark that was after them! What if it tried to attack them? Did they look like seals? Was there any blood in the water that might make it attack?! What were they going to do?! How were they going to fight back against a shark?! Even her parent's reaction to her day would be better than this!

"What do we do?!"

"I don't know!"

They grabbed each other, screaming in fear and fighting to stay above the water. The monster continued on it's path towards them

"'Sup?"

"Amethyst?"

The thing turned out to be a dog. A large, violet-haired Newfoundlander. Or rather, Amethyst had shape-shifted into one. She doggy-paddled circles around them, and barked a few times for effect.

"Your dog can talk?!" Connie asked.

"I'm not a dog, I'm a gem." Amethyst said.

"Magic stuff." Steven quickly translated. "What are you doing here?"

"You guys kinda' looked like you needed saving." She said.

"From what?"

"Oh, just that giant worm that eats bright pink stuff."

Instantly, Connie looked at Steven's bright, pink hair. Suddenly the thing that she had felt swimming underneath them now seemed to make a lot more sense.

"Grab on yo'!" She said.

Connie grabbed on to the gem-dog's thick fur. Steven did as well. With large, powerful strides, she started to pull them back to shore, a great deal faster than they ever could have swum. Once or twice, she felt something swim near her. Connie tried not to look down into the deep water below, not wanting to think about how far from shore they still were. But they made it there in no time with the help of Amethyst.

A crowd had amassed on the beach, all waiting to see what their fate would be. Connie and Steven made it to shore safely, and let go of the dog. Amethyst was instantly swamped with happy citizens, all trying to celebrate the heroic "dog." Mayor Dewy had driven up in his election van, and was already trying to connect the dots between the fact that the "dog's" rescue had all happened thanks to him. (And because of that, they should vote him for mayor.) Amethyst however, wanted no part of the festivities. The worm was still following after them.

It wriggled up on to the shore of the beach. The large, slimy-looking monster seemed to have spotted Steven. It squealed, and started to chase after him and Connie. Amethyst shape-shifted back, and got through the stunned crowd of people. She caught up to the two kids, and pulled his friend away from the path of the worm, taking her place running next to the boy.

"Sorry!"

Amethyst picked up Steven, holding him over her head. She ran towards the boardwalk. From behind her, she could hear the corrupted gem's screams. Why did they have to sound so much like Apatite's? Gritting her teeth, she focused on what was important. Keeping Steven safe. She ran through the support beams, taking sudden twists and sharp turns at every chance that she could.

This made quick work of the worm. It became tangled around itself, unable to move. It struggled, but that only made the knot it was in tighter. The worm caused the support beams beneath the boardwalk to snap. The walk above fell on the worm. It gave one final death screech before going limp. The corrupted gem retreated, sending up a billowing cloud of sand.

Putting down Steven and catching the gem, Amethyst quickly bubbled it. She looked away from the ruined board walk, silently hoping that wouldn't have to come out of her pay. Amethyst was about to ask if Steven and his friend were alright, but he was gone. He was standing next to his new friend. She could see Vidalia and Greg were with them and had wrapped towels around Connie and Steven.

Connie was excitedly talking to the adults, waving her hands, and pointing towards her. Steven however, was staring at her. He was frowning, and looked like he was trying to hide behind Greg's leg. Right. Vidalia and her had both seen that he was out of bed the night before. But neither of them had actually talked yet. That seemed like a bit of an important thing to do.

Just as she was about to walk towards them, Amethyst sensed the presence of someone behind her. Within a split second, she realized that Steven was not staring at her. He was looking at what, or rather, who was behind her. Pearl and Garnet were standing just off to the side of the wrecked boardwalk. And they were looking at her. She stared right back at them, and sent the gem back to the temple. With no reason to talk to her, they left the scene.

Amethyst sighed.

This was going to take a _lot_ of getting used to.


	26. Strawberry Battlefield

The field was a haunting type of quiet. The wind may have rustled the grass, but hardly any sound was produced. No birds chirped, there was no sign of civilization for miles, and the only animals seemed to be butterflies. Silent, pastel-coloured butterflies. They floated around, visiting the snow-white flowers that grew in the field, and chased after each other.

Strawberries were strewn as far as the eye could see. Bushes were in full bloom, yet held full, red strawberries as well. It was a haven for the harmless insects. While the field looked like it had been untouched it's entire existence, there was still evidence that proved otherwise. Swords, morning stars, and a host of other weapons were tangled between the undergrowth.

There was also a large, grey pyramid within the meadow. It looked very out of place when compared to the colourful mixture of strawberries and butterflies. It had stood there for millennium, completely undisturbed. At least until now. The once dormant pyramid exploded. When the light cleared, only a single, pyramidal-shaped gem was left. Sardonyx bubbled the gem and returned it to the temple. With no reason to remain, she gave a large bow to an invisible audience, and then unfused. Garnet and Pearl were left, frowning at each other slightly.

"We're still a little rusty." Pearl said, stretching her back.

Garnet rubbed the long scratch on her arm.

"Tell me about it."

The two gems started to walk back to the war pad. They both had a few minor injuries that Sardonyx had received while doing through the dungeon. Spike traps, lava traps, ice, and so much more. Between the two of them, the most serious things they had were some scrapes, after a long fall down a slide. It would take a little more practice before they'd be in tip-top shape again. But they still had time to work on their routine.

"It might be a little easier if all four of us fused at the same time." Pearl said.

"...Four?"

Realizing her mistake, Pearl blushed.

"Three! I meant three!" She corrected. "It's just hard to-"

"Remember."

"I was going to say fuse." Pearl said. "I'm just so used to practising for Alexandrite, and the last few times I've fused, it's only been with one other gem, and-"

"You haven't fused with either of us in decades Pearl."

Garnet was referring to how the only two-gem fusion Pearl had recently been a part of was Opal. There was nothing personal about this, it was just that Ruby and Sapphire preferred sticking together when they fused with another gem. They hadn't even practices their individual dances in a long time. So what other fusion could Pearl be talking about? Opal, and then-?

The question had already caused Pearl to blush full-out. She twisted her fingers together until they started to turn green as well.

"Well, as you know, when Amethyst and I located the Heaven Beetle-"

Garnet winced. She was willing to admit that hadn't been one of her better moments. Getting mad at Amethyst and Pearl due to her own troubles taking control...

"Amethyst and Steven were eaten by the beetle's guardian." Garnet continued.

"And, neither Apatite nor I were strong enough on our own to fight it. So, we may have possibly-"

"It's fine Pearl." Garnet said, stopping her from talking any farther. "You did what you had to."

"Right." She said, giving a sharp nod.

Just then, Pearl stumbled over something. Garnet caught her teammate, having already predicted the potential fall. Pearl bent over to grab the object that she had tripped over, and gave a gasp.

"It's Rose's scabbard!"

A wave of emotion washed over Garnet when Pearl showed her the pink, rose-patterned scabbard. Sadness, nostalgia, disappointment... They had failed her. They were still failing her now. And since Steven's arrival on Earth, they would always be failures. They couldn't protect Rose, the planet, or any of the things she had fought to maintain. Her sacrifices in the war all seemed to be in vain.

Millions of gems went to war, and only three made it to the end. There was no telling how many survived on the other side. They would have been executed most likely, for failing to do their duty in winning the war. There wouldn't be that many fatalities this time around. Gems would die. Human being would as well. All of them would never stand a chance.

"So it was here the whole time." Garnet said.

"Yes! This is perfect! Now her sword will be complete once again!"

"Pearl, where is her sword?"

"Why Rosie has it of course! He has-"

When she remembered the missing lion, her smile instantly left.

"We need to find that lion right away. Oh this is awful! Rosie has access to her armoury, and the laser light cannon! But now we have no way to transport anything heavy or-"

"It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter?! But Garnet-"

Garnet sighed. She pushed up her glasses with her hand, wiping her eyes.

"Pearl, even if we did have access to her things, we don't have her gem. There's no possible way we could use them."

"You're right." She said, calming down.

"What we really need to do, is to stratiegize. We need to figure out how to cause them as much trouble as possible, and not make things any easier for them."

An excited light filled Pearl's eyes. Even in the most dire circumstances, Pearl still loved strategies, and coming up with elaborate plans. They could finally put her love of this back to good use, so long as they tried to keep things together. Garnet was doing her best to stop either one of them from slipping even farther than they already had. What little remained of the Crystal Gems had to stay strong in the face of adversary. Keeping Pearl busy with something she loved just seemed like the best thing to do. It wouldn't stress her out like understanding the robonoids would, and they'd make some actual progress.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" Pearl asked. "We'll start with an evacuation plan for Beach City first. And we'll need to return to the kindergarten to dismantle all of the injectors! We'll need to warn the humans, perhaps borrow a few of their missiles, and then-"

"Easy there Pearl." Garnet interrupted. "We might want to start with here first."

Sweeping her arm outwards, Garnet gestured to the field. Weapons were still spread everywhere. Even if the battlefield was not a place that was easily for humans to reach, it was for gems. Leaving all these weapons around made it seem like they were asking to be over powered. Taking the weapons of the fallen seemed a little, very, wrong, but they didn't have much choice on what they could do. Besides, it wasn't like they hadn't done awful things in the past. Especially recently.

"Do you think we could just bubble them?" Pearl asked.

Garnet looked at a battle axe that was stuck in the ground. It was talker than both her and Pearl combined.

"Just the small things."

The gems started to do exactly that. It wasn't too difficult of a job. It merely involved lots of bending over, to make sure that they had not missed anything. They gradually fanned out, clearing the former area around the pyramid and warp pad of weapons. Then, they had to spread farther out. Pearl was scanning the area methodically, but Garnet simply picked up whatever was in her reach. She could see where she had been because the strawberry bushes were trampled.

The fusion could feel the warm, sticky strawberries bursting underneath her feet. A red stain gradually crawled up her ankles and along her sides as she traipsed deeper into the field of strawberries. Butterflies were attracted to the sweet berry juice she got on herself, and Garnet found herself constantly brushing away the delicate pests. When she rose a hand to wipe her forehead, she spread more of the red stain across herself.

The scarlet soaking into her palms made Garnet freeze. It didn't stand out against her own skin, but it did against Ruby and Sapphire's gems. It made her think of blood. Gems didn't bleed. Steven however, did bleed. It was the only way they had ever realized that he wasn't merely a Home World gem. He was something more than that. Something almost, sinister.

They had agreed that wondering about Steven wasn't really a priority. He was not Rose, that was all they needed to know. He was important to a gem in the higher society, important enough to start a war over. But was it Steven's mentor who was powerful enough to start a war over this? Or was there something about Steven, that made him so important to get back? He was one of a kind, there was no doubt about that. The question of why he was human, and how it had happened was different.

There was so much that they didn't know about him! Well, that really was all their fault. Choosing one life over her partner's, the rest of the planet's, it was easy. It was a no-brainer. How could they honour the sacrifice of Rose Quartz if they let the planet die, all for one gem? It was everything they had ever worked towards, everything they lived for. Protecting the Earth gave her, all of them a purpose. A purpose they needed to keep on going.

It was a way to tell themselves that the war had not been for nothing, that Rose had not died in vain. They couldn't fail her. Not after everything she had worked so hard towards. She had tried to make such big changes, helped so many gems! Letting that all go to waste was almost criminal. Rose was the reason why they had to keep protecting the Earth and all of it's inhabitants.

Garnet had nothing against Steven. He had healed Ruby's gem! He was still young, and couldn't be blamed for his dislike of fusion. Of course he would be taught to hate it. For a gem who was supposed to hate gems that were weak, he was oddly unprejudiced. Perhaps it had to do with his human side, the fact that he wasn't an ideal gem either. The boy was even... Cute. That was the word. His, cuteness was frustratingly distracting. It made her want to hug him. Amethyst and Pearl had both been tricked by this, cuteness as well.

Personal feelings placed second after priority though. Honouring Rose's sacrifice came first. Ruby and Sapphire came first. Why were they in the wrong for protecting the planet from destruction? The humans had not really listened to much of what they had said after seeing Steven. The boy was admittedly in rough shape, but that had not been their fault.

It was regrettable that things had turned out the way that they did, that there had not been more that they could do to change the situation. That was what Garnet felt sorry about. That they couldn't have handled things better, and caused less pain on both sides. But she could never being herself to regret chasing after Steven when he was on the run. If she had known better at the time, then Garnet would have. But she didn't. All of them had thought he would hurt Ruby.

Well, she did not regret just those things. Amethyst was another. She had lost her teammate thanks to her own, stupid future vision. She had never seen what Pearl had. She had never realized how isolated and uncomfortable Amethyst felt. And most importantly, she had never seen that Amethyst had grown up. She'd been changing the entire time, and she had missed all of it. The wild, frightened kindergarten gem had turned into a young warrior... No, not a warrior. Amethyst, despite all of her blood-lust, did not want to fight in the war.

Understandable. Especially considering how she and Pearl had turned out. That would frighten any reasonable gem away from the idea of war.

Garnet checked on Pearl. She was searching a new patch for weapons. She tried to pick up a throwing star, that was nearly as large as her head. But with only one hand to do so, it was impossible. Pearl fell down with an audible splat. Rather than catch herself, Pearl chose to land face face-first in a bush. She kept one of her arms sticking up at a funny angle. In it was Rose's scabbard. It had just barely avoided a new, strawberry-red coating like it's holder now had.

Pearl got up, and shook the red stuff off of herself, as best as she could. All while doing this, the gem made sure not to get the scabbard dirty. A long-suppressed memory came to the forefront of Garnet's mind when she saw this. The gesture, it reminded her so much of the war, all of the times that Pearl had sacrificed, or at least tried to, for Rose. It was never something she liked to think about.

When she thought about it too much, it made Garnet wonder if they let Rose's presence in their life control them. They weren't being controlled! They were their own gems, and took orders from no one. They merely followed their vows. Vows from... The only person they ever chose to take orders from... As Garnet watched her teammate hurt herself to save the scabbard that belonged to their late leader, she knew there was no way to deny it.

Garnet stopped what she was doing and walked over to Pearl. She was still brushing the strawberry stains off of her clothes and face.

"You alright?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine!" She chirped. "I just took a little fall. And I couldn't let Rose's scabbard get messy, so it was a little harder landing than I was expecting!"

They were truly controlled by their guilt.

"Give me that."

Garnet took the scabbard from Pearl, and bubbled it. She tapped the top, transporting it back to the temple. Pearl couldn't quite believe her eyes at first. Garnet talked before she could let things sink in.

"Pearl, we can't let Rose dictate our actions any more."

"I, what?"

"Rose is gone Pearl. We can't let her memory get in the way of our choices."

"But her sacrifice-"

"You are not responsible for her death Pearl. Neither of us are. The gem who is died. There's no way to avenge her, and there's no way to bring her back."

"Garnet! We vowed to protect the planet, and all of it's living creatures!"

"Exactly. We shouldn't be doing any of this out of guilt. It's our duty, and it's the right thing to do. Rose cared about the planet, and all of it's living creatures. Do you truly care for this planet, or was it just Rose that makes you want to stay here?"

"I-I love it here! Garnet you know that! The planet is beautiful, and everything on it deserve the right to live."

"All we've been doing is what made us feel better. And what makes us feel better is doing what we hope would make Rose happy. Not what would help the Earth."

"You're right." Pearl groaned, running a hand through her hair. "But I can't give orders! I can't make my own decisions Garnet! I'm useless on my own!"

"You _are_ your own gem. You control your destiny. Not me, not Rose, not anyone. But you must choose to be strong, so we can move forward."

"You're right." She echoed.

"I just watched you hurt yourself over a scabbard Pearl." Garnet said. "Just promise me that won't happen again."

Sniffling, Pearl wiped her eyes.

"I'll try."

Then, trying to lighten the mood, Pearl pointed to one of the many over-sized weapons in the field.

"Do you think Sardonyx would like that one?"

"Mhm, I think that axe is more her style."

Linking arms, the gems started to stroll through the strawberry battlefield, scouting out more potential weapons. They may have lost Amethyst, but at least they still had each other. And for what little time they had left, that would be enough.

* * *

Greg had just finished off polishing the mayor's election-mobile when he saw two people out of the corner of his eye. He looked back to see Steven and Onion. Vidalia's son continued to walk down the sidewalk, silent as ever. Steven however, looked a little shaken. He walked towards Greg, obviously uncomfortable with whatever was bothering him.

"Hey Kiddo! What brings you here?"

"Sour Cream and Yellow Tail are arguing." He said. "So Vidalia told us we could play outside while they fight."

That explained it then. Vidalia said the two could get awfully mad at each other. It could be stressful with a kid, but that was just how their family worked. There was some fighting on occasion, but they still cared about each other. At the end of the day, nothing had changed between them. Vidalia never seemed stressed about anything, so Greg couldn't tell for sure if her version of bad was very bad though.

"You ok?"

Steven gave a halfhearted shrug.

"I guess so."

"You wanna' talk about it?"

He nodded.

"Alright. Let me just finish off the mayor's van. I'll take an early lunch break."

Steven nodded again. He sat down in the shade of the van, and stared at him. Greg found it a little eerie, but he supposed that it was nothing to worry about. Steven was probably just thinking. He didn't seem to talk a lot when trying to understand human things. But Steven already knew what a job was and what the point of washing cars happened to be. Perhaps there was something else on his mind.

Once he had closed up shop and given the mayor back his van, they left. Greg walked in the direction of the town's main street. It wasn't near any water, which was good for Steven, and thry didn't have to be anywhere near Vidalia's place. It was the perfect in the middle route for talking. Steven may have gotten over his fear of water, but Greg now had a fear of Steven getting trapped in a magical bubble and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. It was the sort of thing he hoped would not happen any time in the future. He didn't want Steven seeing the houses and thinking about what was going on back at Vidalia's either.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Greg had to hide a smile. Steven was meticulously making sure that he didn't step on any of the cracks on the ground. One or twice, he simply walked on the grass to stop from stepping where he shouldn't. It was cute to see him acting like a normal human boy, even if he was part-gem as well. Living a calm, quiet life was exactly what Steven needed after all the life-threatening adventures he had been on. He just needed to be happy.

Just to humour the boy, he asked;

"What are you doing?"

"Connie says if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back."

"Good advice." Greg said. "Make sure not to step on any lines either. If you step on a line, you break your brother's spine."

"I don't have a brother." Steven said, hopping over another crack.

Greg made a point of Stepping over the line that divided one cement block from the next.

"I do. His name's Wirt."

"How come he doesn't live with you?" Steven asked.

"That's a bit of a complicated question to answer." Greg sighed.

"I know I've got a mom somewhere out there." Steven said. "All humans have one, Apatite said so."

"It's nice of you to take her back into consideration." Greg smiled.

The innocence of the conversation was demolished instantly when Steven decided to say;

"I broke my back once. It really hurt. I had to stay in my gem for a long time."

" _Oookaaay_... Uh, how about we talk about something else?"

"Where do humans come from?"

Greg began to sweat. He just couldn't catch a break! First there were all those questions Steven asked about human death in the hospital, then there was the magical shield-bubble he had trapped himself in yesterday. Now he was asking a rather... Important question. He couldn't tell him about a stork or magical diamonds left underneath pumpkins. Steven would take it as the truth without realizing otherwise. To him, anything was truly possible because he didn't know better.

"Well Steven, I'm sure you're aware that human beings can, have, a baby."

"I know that."

Greg sighed in relief.

"Then what do you want to know?"

"Sour Cream said Yellow Tail wasn't his real dad. But he and Onion are brothers, which means they have the same dad. But Onion and Yellow Tail look alike!"

The only question worse than the former, and Steven had found it. Greg rubbed his neck, trying to think of something to say. Greg settled for the easiest version of the story. Which happened to be, no story at all. Just the flat, gossip-less facts of things.

"Onion and Sour Cream have different dads." He explained. "But they still have the same mom."

"Oh. Ok."

At least he hadn't asked any more questions on the matter. Greg still felt bad that Steven had heard at least part of the argument between Yellow Tail and his step-son. Of course that would be the thing that made him think about stuff like this. Some logistics were a bit hard to explain to a young boy who didn't fully get what their world was capable of.

"Hey, don't think about it too much." Greg said.

"It's just, I thought human families, got along well?"

"Most do." Greg replied. "But others don't. Each family is different, but there'll always be a little bit of fighting in them. Not everyone ways gets along."

"Oh."

"Hey! How about we go get some doughnuts?"

"No thanks."

Greg remembered that Amethyst now worked at the Big Doughnut. While she and Steven weren't fighting, there was still some resounding awkwardness between them.

"How about pizza then? Have you ever had that before?"

"Can we get some instead of doughnuts?"

"Of course."

Fish Stew Pizza was not far from where they had been walking. Greg took the lead, entering the pizzeria and going up to the counter. Steven shyly followed behind, staring at the small restaurant in curiosity. There was not much to see inside of Fish Stew Pizza. They had a few wooden tables and chairs set up for their customers, and there was a counter for where orders were taken. There were a few pictures of the family who owned the restaurant on the walls, along with those of some exotic scenery.

A teenage girl was working at the register. She was leaning against the counter, and was chewing a mouthful of bubble gum, and seemed more concentrated on her phone than her job. She only glanced up when they entered before looking back down again.

"Oh _heeey_ Mister Universe!" She greeted. "What can I get you today?"

"Just a-"

The girl finally seemed to notice Steven. She dropped her phone and gasped.

"Oh my gosh! You're like, that kid who got trapped in that bubble yesterday!"

"Er, well yeah, I am."

"KIKI! WEIRD BLOG GUY! Come check this out!"

The teen's twin sister (And fellow employee.) Came out of the kitchen. Ronaldo pulled off his headphones when he heard the word "weird." He looked around, wondering who had spotted something strange and where it could be. Then, he saw Greg, and the weird kid who had fallen into the ocean with another weird kid. Ronaldo's eyes lit up in delight. Pulling out his phone, he ran over to them.

"You're that kid!" Ronaldo said.

"I spotted him first!" Jenny reminded. "Take a picture with him and me together."

Jenny handed her cellphone to Ronaldo, who started taking pictures with both phones at the same time. Kiki interfered before things could go too far. She took her sister's phone and put it in her apron pocket.

"Hey! Give me back my phone!"

"Jenny, Dad said no phones on the job."

"Well he isn't here." Jenny retorted, taking back her phone. "Now, which filter should we use? Grey scale? Blue wash? _Oooh_ , no wait! Let's try one with the new rainbow effect! That'll look so cool!"

"Hey, look. We're just here to get a pizza." Greg said.

Just as Greg said so, Ronaldo took another picture of them.

"Hey! Ronaldo! Quit it!"

Ronaldo didn't seem to hear them. His eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open. Slowly, he started to scream louder and louder.

"GREG! STEVEN'S YOUR SON?!"

"What? No! Where'd that come from?!"

Ronaldo showed them a program on his phone. Kiki and Jenny both pushed to see what Ronaldo was screaming about as well. Ronaldo had opened up a face-match program. It had compared Steven's face next to Greg's, and said that it was a very close match. The gems had already out Greg through this before though, so he wasn't very surprised by the results. The teens and Steven however, were.

"This just in." Jenny read as she texted. "Local weirdo may be related to mysterious kid. How does that sound? Is it too click-baity? I don't want people thinkin' that this is some kinda' miracle weight loss program."

"Jenny! You can't just make up lies and put them on the Internet!"

"Re-lax! People do it all the time!"

"We should at least find some proof." Kiki argued.

"You're right!" Jenny squealed. "Blog guy! Start investigating this!"

There was no reply. Everyone looked around the restaurant, and realized that Ronaldo had vanished. However, the fading screams of "keep Beach City weird" could be heard in the distance.

"I guess he needed faster internet connection."

"Oh well! That just leaves it up to me!" Jenny said. "So, Stephen-"

"It's Steven."

"-rumour has it that Mister Universe used to be a super cool rock star. Can you sing at all?"

Steven had to think about the pizza-girl's question. He liked singing, but he wasn't too sure if he was actually good at it to begin with. Making up songs was fun though, and he supposed that singing tje planet's anthem had to count for something. But even if he was able to sing, did that really mean he was related to Mister Universe? That didn't really seem to make much sense to him.

"A little."

"That proves it then! You two are definitely, one hundred percent related!" Jenny pressed a button on her phone. "There! Now everyone in Beach City knows!"

"Can we just get our order?" Greg sighed.

Kiki returned from the kitchen with his standard order of pizza.

"It's on the house."

As the left Fish Stew Pizza, Greg shook his head.

"Weird kids."

"That wasn't normal?" Steven asked.

"It's hard to explain Steven. There isn't really any kind of normal for human beings. We're all completely different, and there's no way we could ever be replaced. You can't be normal when everyone is unique."

"Oh."

Steven didn't say anything, obviously thinking about what he had just said. They started to walk towards the middle of town, where there was a small park. There were a few flower beds that the town kept in order, and neatly trimmed grass. A few old trees remained there as well. They were so large, it looked like they had been there when the town was first founded. They sat down in the shade of a large maple tree.

Greg opened the box of pizza, and handed a slice to Steven. He grabbed one and started to eat. Steven copied the gesture once he got the hang of holding the pizza. They ate in relative silence, enjoying the nice summer day outside. They ate about half the pizza together before they became full.

"So, what do you think? About the pizza that is?"

"It's great!" He smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem Kiddo! Now, do you wanna' talk about what's on your mind?"

Wiping his cheesy fingers in the grass, Steven nodded. Greg braced himself for something crazy or disturbing. It was sad that he had gotten used to this, but it was the truth. He had survived some nasty things, and not just on Earth. The place he had come from seemed to be horrible. But perhaps that was because he was human. It might not be so bad for gems, but it was for a boy who was also half-human.

"Humans are confusing."

That was a better answer than Greg could have hoped for.

"What's so confusing about us?"

Steven fell on his back, and stared up at the canopy of trees overhead.

"Everything! You guys don't fight or hurt each other as much as gems do. You don't hurt the planet because you want something from it! I don't get why you have families either! Why are you guys just so good?"

Greg stood up.

"Let's start walking again."

With a nod, he tailed after Greg. He walked to the centre of the small park. There was a fountain in the middle, with a large, metal statue of a man in the middle of it. Along the edge of the fountain, there were words carved into the stone. Steven realized that it was not just a fountain. It was a monument for something or someone.

"Not all humans are good." Greg said. "We have wars and kill each other too. And that's just between people who live on this planet. No one's just purely good or bad. We all do things we aren't proud of, and we all makes mistakes. We're human, not perfect. There is bad out there, but hopefully, you won't have to deal with it until you're older."

"What do the words say?"

For a moment, Greg didn't know what Steven was talking about. Then he saw that Steven was staring at the names engraved on the side of the fountain.

"Those are all the people who fought and died in different wars. Just from Beach City though."

"That's a lot of names."

"Yeah. It sure is."

Standing in silence, he stared at the fountain. If gems hurt other gems, and humans hurt other humans, then who was the bad guy? The people here seemed so nice when compared to what he was used to! Was it really possible for them to do what Greg had said? What was worse then? Being a human, or being a gem?

He had to learn. He needed to figure out everything he could about being human. He had to hide somehow. If he didn't seem human enough, they would know it was him for certain! But humans were obscure, no one kept track of how many there were and who they were. It would be so easy to hide amongst them, if not for the fact that he couldn't understand them. Where they the good guys or the bad guys?

"I don't understand anything!"

"Hey, don't say that. You're getting there, it'll just take some time!"

"But how long will that take?"

"I'm not going to lie Steven, it will take you a while, but it's possible to learn."

"I don't have a lot of time! They're looking for me now!"

Steven covered his mouth, realizing that he had slipped up.

"What? _Who's_ looking for you now?"

"THE DIAMOND AUTHORITY!"

Greg and Steven jumped. Neither of them had seen Ronaldo sneak up behind them. He had his phone in one hand, and his portable video camera in the other. He was just starting to film them for his blog. Greg pushed the camera away from them, but this did nothing to deter Ronaldo.

"They plan to hollow out the Earth!" Ronaldo said. "They're coming back!"

Greg sighed.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Uncovering the truth is more important!"

"Hey! Isn't that Mister Universe's son?" Someone on the sidewalk yelled.

"We're not-"

"Yeah! It is!" Ronaldo called back.

Why couldn't the people in this town cut him a break?


	27. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guest (FF): No. That was a shameless reference to OTGW, just like the Gravity Falls (Along with the Rick and Morty one that no one has spotted.) For my own amusement. I just wanted to see how many people would pick up on the joke.

A soft wind rustled through the small flower garden. Roses, countless, colourful roses were planted in the ground. The young bushes were being trained up a short trellis, held in their place with plain bits of string. Carpet roses had been planted beneath and around the rose bushes. They eagerly spread out on the ground, climbing over everything that they could reach. Much like their name, the carpet roses grew out across the ground, forming a living green-and-pink carpet. Small rosehips had sprouted from some of the blooms once they had died off. The round, red fruits shone brightly in the sun.

A circular border had been arranged around the display of roses. It was a simple line of rocks. Smooth, round stones that had been transferred from the beach, all the way up to the top of the temple. Several small strawberry plants had been placed on the outside of the ring. They were still very young, and were barely more than green twigs stuck into the dirt. Eventually, they would grow to form a living border of strawberries around the roses.

Pearl was a creature of habit. So Garnet knew, without a fail that she would be at the top of the temple, tending to her newly planted garden. Over the past few weeks, she had somehow acquired a trellis, and all the different kinds of roses. The strawberries had been taken from the strawberry battlefield. Every day, without a fail, Pearl took a watering can (It's origins were also questionable.) Carried it into town, and filled it with fresh water. Then she lugged it all the way back to the temple, so that she could water the garden she had made. She always did so right after they discussed more matters about the war.

It at least kept her busy, and stopped Pearl from thinking too deeply into the war and what was to come. It was good for the both of them to be aware, but not be in denial at the same time. Stressing would get them nowhere. For now, it was best to train, and to take things one step at a time. They would deal with what they could, and keep themselves together in the end. Sardonyx easily got back into practice once they really started going, and the weapons from the strawberry battlefield were contained. Hopefully, as odd as it sounded, the temple would be destroyed with the weapons.

Garnet wondered if, when the day came, they should put it into lock down, and activate it's defenses. Of course, they needed the Rose Quartz gem if they were to do that... It would take a lot of persuasion to do that though. If it even was possible. The possibility couldn't be ignored though. Garnet thought it was a good enough reason for her to interrupt Pearl's usual watering. Pearl naturally saw her coming from her vantage point, and turned her head.

"Oh Garnet! What brings you up here?"

"I was coming to talk about the-"

The ground shook beneath them, and the loudest, wailing sound Garnet had ever heard began. She could feel the vibrations of sound underneath her feet. The ground vibrated, the grass on top of it did, and stones were dislodged from the cliff, and sent tumbling down on to the beach below. Garnet and Pearl looked at each other, and both jumped off the edge, and landed on the entrance to the temple.

"It's coming from my room!" Pearl exclaimed.

They entered Pearl's room. The unbearable wailing sound grew worse. Even the water in Pearl's room rippled from the force of the sound. Raising up her arm, Pearl summoned the noisemaker from the depths of her room. It was a wailing stone. Only one of them out of the few intact ones that remained on Earth. It shouldn't have been going off like this though!

"Someone's sending us a message!"

"But who?! We have all the wailing stones on this planet!"

The realization hit them both at the same time.

"It's from the Home World!"

"What?!" Garnet asked.

"I said, it's from the Home World!"

Slam!

Donning her gauntlets, Garnet brought her fist down upon the top of the wailing stone. The sound immediately stopped.

"Ah, that's better."

The button on top of the wailing stone pushed back up. The sound started again. This time, Garnet punched the hole in the center of the wailing stone. Then, she let go of her gauntlet. This stopped the sound. The wailing stone still continued to vibrate through. With the sound gone, Garnet and Pearl could hear each other once again.

"Why isn't it speech?" Pearl asked. "We should be able to hear what they're saying!"

Because she was thinking, Garnet did not speak right away. She stared at the wailing stone, trying to think on why it would do this. Could the wailing stone be broken? It was very old after all. It would make sense if something from so long ago was... No, that was it! The wailing stone was too old! Too old to pick up the signal! Of course!

"They must have new forms of communication." Garnet replied. "We don't have anything advanced enough to understand this."

"That makes sense." Pearl said. "Perhaps if I tried to alter the receptor, we could figure out what they're saying."

Garnet instantly thought back to Pearl and the countless robonoids that she had dismantled, trying to understand the new Home World technology.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew Pearl."

"But we need to figure this out!"

"What we need is someone who understands new technology. Someone like Steven."

"But how will we get him to talk to us?" She wondered. "We're not supposed to go anywhere near him!"

That was true. But there was still a way around it.

"We'll ask Amethyst to talk to him for us."

Pearl did a double-take.

"We just _ask_ Amethyst? But she won't talk to us! She probably hates us..."

"It's worth a shot."

A quick run to Beach City later, the gems found Amethyst. At least, they found the crowd that surrounded her outside of the big doughnut. All they could see was a flash of purple hair and the bright, sparkly neons of her doughnut uniform. The people all seemed amused, and were cheering and gasping at the appropriate times. Pearl struggled to get through the densely packed group of people, but couldn't. Incensed, Pearl huffed, and placed her hands on her hips.

"What are they even watching?!"

Shifting the wailing stone to one hand, Garnet picked up Pearl with the other. With her new-found height, Pearl was now able to see past the ring of people that surrounded Amethyst. There was a hat on the ground in front of Amethyst's feet, filled to the brim with human currency. Amethyst, still in her doughnut uniform was juggling a sign, and two doughnuts. She had a bright grin on her face, clearly enjoying the attention. Amethyst was hot dogging it up, and getting paid for it. That seemed incredible to Pearl. How could none of this be a dream? It just seemed to impossible to her!

The crowd cheered even louder as another doughnut was thrown into the mix. It may have not seemed like much of a feat if not for how restricting the large, round costume was. Amethyst only had two small holes for her arms to fit through, yet she somehow still juggled with ease. Pearl realized that she had shape-shifted her arms to be longer. She also was not restricted by human body structures, like bones. Amethyst finished with the act, swallowing the doughnuts, and catching the sign with both hands.

She waved it in her arms and said;

"Go eat at the Big Doughnut yo'! Also, I work for tips."

Several of the humans threw coins and bills into her already overflowing hat. Amethyst dropped the sign and took a long bow. The crowd started to disperse. With the show over, Garnet and Pearl were reminded of why they were there in the first place. Garnet didn't hesitate to muscle her way through the crowd. With one glance at Garnet, no one dared to put up a fight.

Amethyst noticed them right away, not that they were hard to miss in a crowd. Garnet put Pearl down. None of the gems said anything at first. So Amethyst decided to speak first.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Garnet held out the wailing stone, and removed the gauntlet from it. The wailing sound began yet again. The people around them cringed and covered their ears, running away from the source of the unbearable noise. Amethyst covered her ears as well.

"Ah! Make it stop!"

Garnet punched the wailing stone again, and left her gauntlet stuck within the middle. Amethyst shook her head, trying to understand what had just happened.

"What was that?" She asked.

"The signal the wailing stone has picked up."

"You mean, someone's trying to contact you from-?"

"Off planet. Yes."

Amethyst tried not to seem nervous about the news. But she wasn't hiding it very well.

"And this is my problem because?"

"We can't understand the signal." Garnet said. "It's too advanced for the wailing stone. We need someone who knows about modern day gem tech."

Even without directly saying so, Amethyst knew what Garnet was asking for. But if either of them thought she would just agree to this straight off the bat, they had another thing coming. Why would she ever consider doing something for them? What had actually given them the idea to come see her about this? They knew that she wasn't going to help with whatever it was that they needed.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, _no,_ **_no, no!_** No dice! Absolutely not! There is no way I'm helping you two with anything. Those days are like, over, _finito,_ done!"

"This isn't just about us!" Garnet argued. "It's important that Steven knows about this message as well."

"He's not a gem anymore. He just wants to live a normal human life."

"It doesn't matter if he's not a gem anymore! Whoever sent this message is probably looking for him. He need to know!"

She flippantly waved a hand at them.

"Fine, so I'll tell him like, the Home World left him a message or whatever and to call them back."

"Amethyst-!"

Pearl placed her arm in front of Garnet before she could grow more angry. The last thing they needed was for their confrontation to turn to violence. It would ruin their chances of ever getting the wailing stone's message decoded. When they were nearing a time of war, this was not something that they could be faced with. This message could be crucial in getting an advantage over the others.

"Garnet... Let me, handle this."

Amethyst just sneered at her. It hurt, but she didn't let this deter her from trying to reason with the gem.

"I know we have made some, questionable decisions regarding Steven in the past. Things that most people strongly disagree with. That you disagree with." Pearl took a shaky breath. "I admit, we should have handled the situation a lot more delicately than we had. I still believe that keeping him bubbled was the right decision to make, when we were faced with the wellbeing of Ruby and the Earth. However, we're not here to argue about that. We're here because not only is the Earth's safety being threatened, but Steven's is as well. If this message contains any strategic importance, all of us need to know."

Amethyst spoke immediately after Pearl finished, just ready to burst after hearing her words.

"Blah, blah, blah. I'm giving a big long speech." Amethyst mocked. "That's what I heard."

Growling, Garnet grabbed her gauntlets.

"Alright, that's it-"

"But, I'm willing to try helping you." She finished. "Only because this might be important to Steven."

Pearl bowed her head.

"That's a lot more than we could hope for."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Steven was at the car wash with Greg. The wash was closed for the day, as there was something called a summer holiday. So instead of washing cars, Greg had set up some of his different sound technology to show him. Greg was in the middle of writing a song, claiming that he'd had lots of inspiration lately. Steven looked at all of the various machines and plugins with amazement. Apparently, this was only some of the stuff needed to make what Greg called a "decent-sounding" song.

The microphone recorded singing, and there was a sound amplifier, which made his guitar and keyboard sound even louder. He could play all sorts of sounds that Steven didn't even realize were possible to make. The endless instrument settings on the keyboard had been a source of non-stop amusement. Greg was able to name each instrument off the top of his head, something he found equally amazing. Memorizing so much must have taken years of intensive training. But the man said that he was self-taught!

Grinning, he changed the setting on the keyboard once again, and pressed a series of keys.

"What's that one?"

"Synthetic chimes."

 _"Whaaat's_ uh, this one?!"

Greg's cell phone rang. But he didn't pick it up right away. Instead, he listened to the ringtone for a minute. Then, his eyes lit up in delight.

"It's perfect! Steven, write that down!"

"Write what down?"

"The notes man! The notes!"

Greg had taught him the basics of sheet music. Apparently music was a universal form of communication. It turned out that not all humans spoke human. They spoke English Muffins and French Fries and Clementine... And all other kinds of crazy things. If music was the easiest way for all of them to communicate, then he was going to learn that first.

It was fairly easy for him to pick up the characters that were required. There were only eight of them, and they came in different measurements. There was a whole, a half, a quarter, and so on. It was easy to remember once he got the hang of it. Steven really liked this, because he was growing tired of not understanding humans. If this would help him blend in better with his surroundings, then it was definitely going to be worth it.

Grabbing the pencil from Greg (Who was caught between wanting to pick up the call and listening to his ringtone.) Steven tried to find a clear spot on the sheet music. There was an empty staff underneath one that he had been working on. He looked up at Greg, waiting for instructions on what he was supposed to copy down. After a moment, Greg said;

"B flat, G, F, D, E flat. After that, is sounds like another B flat, then you'll skip down to a..."

He copied down the notes (All as wholes.) For Greg. Then he played them out on the keyboard. Greg nodded.

"Great work Kiddo!" He said.

He proudly beamed at the praise. Greg finally picked up his call, only for it to be a telemarketer. He put his phone away, and picked up his guitar again. Steven handed him the sheet music, and he started to play what he had written down so far. He stumbled over some of the cords, but eventually got into the swing of the things as he started to decide what he wanted with the song.

"Could you play what I just got you to write?" Greg asked. "Keep the keyboard setting as it is."

Steven did as he was told, without even having to reference the notes.

"Faster this time. Like the ring tone's speed."

He played until it sounded exactly like Greg's ringtone. Only on the piano, and with a different setting.

"Perfect! Now, I'll play my part on the guitar! Once I stop singing, play your part!"

Strumming, Greg started to play the fragment of the song he'd written. Then, he started to sing.

"You don't have to be a part of this, I don't think I want you to be... You don't need this. You don't need me..."

Right as he finished, Steven played his little part on the keyboard.

"Does this song sound a little meh to you? Like it could need some improvement?"

"It sounds kinda' sad."

"Some things are sad." Greg sighed. "I think we'll just shelf this one for now."

Greg and Steven started to tidy up the things they had taken from his van. They would drive back to where his storage locker was, and then unload things again there. Steven started to wrap up the many electrical cords around his arm, while Greg put things back in their proper cases. Then, together, they lifted the amps and the keyboard into the back of his van. Just as they finished putting things away, Amethyst ran up to them.

"Guys!" She yelled. "Guysguysguysguysguys!"

"Whoa, what is it?" Greg asked.

"Home World's like, sent a message to Steven!"

Steven frowned.

"But, how would you pick that up?"

"We didn't. There's like, a wailing stone that has the signal, but we can't figure out what they're saying."

"Wait a minute, who's, we?"

"The other gems." She admitted. "They're the ones with the wailing stone, but none of us know how modern gem stuff works. If we could adjust the stone so it could make sense..."

"You mean, I'd have to-"

"Not if you didn't want to." Amethyst said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Greg asked.

Amethyst nodded.

"They won't try to hurt either of us. It hasn't happened yet."

"Well, if you and Steven ate going, then I'm coming as well." Greg replied. "Steven?"

Slowly, the boy nodded.

"I have to go. It could be really important."

Greg grabbed his car keys and slammed the van doors shut. Then, he hopped into the van, and revved the engine.

"Well, let's get going."

Steven got into the car with Greg. Amethyst ran ahead so that she could tell the others that Steven had agreed to help them. Greg and Steven drove across town and along the beach, to where the Crystal Gems' base was. The gems were already standing out on the beach. What was presumably the wailing stone stood between the two of them.

Greg stopped driving. But neither he nor Steven got out of the van. They stared at the gems, both trying to restrain the floor of emotions they felt when looking at them. For Steven, it was a mixture of fear and anger. He didn't want to help these gems with anything. He was no one's tool to use. This wasn't the first time they had used him to solve their problems either. Just like with the light cannon, he had no choice but to help them.

Home World was finally making contact with the Earth. It felt like an eternity since he had last seen his home planet, or any reminders of it. They had taken long enough in trying to find him! It was not as if they were trillions of light years away from the Earth! Only a few measly hundred thousand. Perhaps the peridot had done something useful after all, and reported this to her superiors.

Or rather, not useful. Maybe if he wanted to return back home, it would have been helpful. But now, if this message had anything to do with rescuing him, it would be a bad sign. Maybe they were coming to Earth to look for him. Maybe it was just some radio feedback they had accidentally picked up. They wouldn't know until he tried to help them with their archaic gem technology.

"You ready Kiddo?"

Nodding, he slid of out his seat, and got out of the van. He ran over to Greg's side. He felt a lot safer with the large man in front of him. He was almost as tall as Pearl, and nearly as wide as the fusion. While he might not be able to fight against them easily, the living wall between himself and the gems was comforting.

"I'm here."

"Yes, thank you for coming, Steven." Pearl said.

"Here's the wailing stone." Garnet added, pointing to the object.

"Why're they called wailing stones?"

Garnet took the gauntlet out of the wailing stone. A deafening, wailing sound began. Steven and the others all covered their ears, staggering away from the wailing stone. Garnet seemed unperturbed though, used to it after all this time. She summoned her weapons and plugged up the wailing stone again. They all sighed in relief when it stopped.

"Is it supposed to sound like that?" He asked.

"No, it's supposed to sound like another gem's voice. Usually they'd communicate with another wailing stone, but obviously you wouldn't be using them anymore."

Rubbing his chin, he started to circle around the stone, trying to find it's power source, or any of it's inner workings. He didn't see much though. The wailing stone was a cylindrical, brown stone, that was rounded near the top. There was a hole punched in it, and a slim button was poking out on the top of it.

"How does it even work?"

"Well, they're made out of a special kind of stone that can be synchronized. However, the amount of stone harvested to make them began to deplete after-"

"Spare me the history lesson P." Amethyst said, blowing the hair out of her eyes.

Pearl blushed. An uncomfortable silence enveloped the group, who all stared at Steven as they waited for him to make some kind of brilliant realization. Steven just felt pressured by all of the others who were staring at him. He couldn't think when all the attention was being focused on him!

"Stop looking at me!" He said.

Everyone averted their eyes. But within moments, Steven knew that they were all watching him again. He couldn't understand the wailing stone or how it worked! The gem stuff they had was so old that even history books didn't cover it! How was he supposed to know anything?! He didn't know anything! Whether it had to do with gems or humans, he was always back to square one when he was taught something. He was useless, there was not a thing in the universe that he could do to help him.

Finally, he threw his hands up in defeat.

"I don't know what to do! I'm not a pearl! I have no idea how these things work!"

There was an awkward pause after he said this. Pearl's blush turned into a darker flush of anger. No one seemed to know how to react to his remark. Amethyst even looked a little angered by what he had just said. Greg didn't understand the full weight of his words though. He spoke up;

"Well, maybe I could try something. I've got all my sound and video stuff on me."

Garnet shrugged.

"It's worth a shot."

With the gems and Steven there to help, Greg had his audio things unloaded from the van within moments. Using his car for a power source, he attached an amp and his keyboard to the car battery. Then, he pulled the gauntlet out of the wailing stone. The painfully loud noise started again with a vengeance. Then, he stuck a condenser microphone into the wailing stone.

The wail continued, only it played through the speakers this time. Greg was able to lower the volume so that they could listen without losing their hearing at the same time. He started to fiddle around with settings on the keyboard, altering the sound slightly. It did not sound anything like another gem's voice though.

"Now I'm going to add some reverb and some low octave effects, I'm also adding some fuzz 'cause who couldn't use more fuzz? Now if I directly input the Wailing Stone and put it through a flanger we might get what you're looking for."

"Flangers aside do you really think a signal like this is compatible with your analog devices?" Pearl asked.

"It'll work!" Steven defensively said.

"Well, here goes nothing."

The wailing noise from before started, even more intensely this time. The gems cringed, and covered their ears.

"This is even worse!" Amethyst yelled.

"I'm sorry!"

"You can do it, you're the

"Yeah!

Greg tried to alter the sound. It calmed once again, altering into something different.

"It sounds like music." Steven said.

"But, it's not supposed to be music. It's supposed to be a message!"

"Okay, hold on I got this."

Pressing more of the buttons, he started to alter the sound. It became less of a melody, and more of what almost sounded like a voice. It was almost like someone trying to talk to them.

"It's changing!" Greg said.

"It almost sounds like a voice."

"Almost got it!

Just then, the engine shorted out, and the noise stopped

"Uh, great."

"What's happening?" Pearl asked. "Where's the signal?"

"Uh, looks like the van battery couldn't handle all this."

"You tried your best." Said Garnet.

The group let out a collective sigh of disappointment. If Greg and Steven were not able to decode the signal, then how were any of them supposed to figure it out. Garnet took the mic out of the wailing stone, and blocked the sound with her fist for the umpteenth time. Greg held his head in defeat, as did Steven.

Be felt like it was all his fault for accidentally bringing their hopes up. But this just proved that he still couldn't do anything, that even with all he had learned, he was useless. Now they would never find oht what the message was. If Mr. Universe couldn't figure out the sound, then it must have been way too advanced for any of them to understand.

"I don't get it. You know everything about sound!" Steven exclaimed.

Greg gave a hapless shrug.

"Maybe it isn't even _sound."_

"If it's not sound, then what could it be?"

Steven looked around at the supplies that Greg still had spread out across the beach. It was all sound stuff really. The man had everything he needed to record his own songs and music videos. No, that was it! Video! The realization hit him like a bus. They couldn't understand the sound, because it was video!

"It's video!"

"Wait, what?"

Steven didn't even realize that he was running after the Crystal Gems until he had crashed into Garnet's leg. Garnet was not affected at all by this. It was like running into a brick wall for Steven though, and he fell backwards into the sand. Stars dance across his line of sight as he sat there. They quickly cleared, revealing two very concerned gems.

"Steven, are you alright?" Pearl asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" He panted. "But you need to bring the wailing stone back! It's not an audio message! It's a video!"

Garnet and Pearl glanced between each other. They shrugged. It was not like he could make the situation any worse. They took the wailing stone back to where Greg was. Amethyst met them half-way, having chased Steven after he started to run in their direction. Greg was already setting up his video things. He had placed a large, boxy TV on top of one of the speakers, and was plugging things back into his van once again.

"We'll need to give the car a jumpstart first." Greg said. "And one of you will have to start it while I work on-"

The gems were on the task before he could even finish. Garnet grabbed the jump cables and boosted them herself. Meanwhile, Pearl helped Greg attached the wailing stone to his video equipment. Amethyst eagerly hopped into the front seat, and was ready to hotwire the car when Greg pointed out the keys to her.

"I've never started a care with keys before." She said.

Amethyst revved the engine, and laughed.

"Wow! That's _way_ easier!"

The wailing started up again. But this time, it was different. Steven excitedly ran to the TV and turned it on. The screen buzzed at first, the crackling sound of electricity fancing across it. Snow appeared on the screen, faintly at first. The wailing turned into a white noise, the static started to thin. Slowly, the soumd morphed into a voice, and an image became clear on the screen.

The group was shocked into speechlessness when they finally saw who was communicating with them.

"Peridot!"

The surly gem was staring at them. She was speaking, but her mouth was slightly out of sync with the audio playing. They could still hear her voice as clear as if she were standing on the beach with them. Peridot boredly stared at the screen, never breaking eye contact with it.

"This is peridot six-eighteen, here with a _message_ for the _Steven_ and the Crystal Morons of this planet." She monotonely stated. "It seems that my superior wishes to see this Steven with her own eyes. The detainment crew will arrive within four of this planet's rotations. If the any of you refuse to cooperate, we have been given permission to use force."

"I'm not going back!" He yelled at the screen.

Even though the message was one-way, Peridot smirked. She seemed to know what he was saying.

"If the threat of annihilation is insufficient, we still hold something dear to you! So ha! Take that you _nerds!_ I bet you're wondering what it is! But I won't tell you! Because that's what you get for breaking all of my-"

"Do you _ever_ shut up?"

Steven's heart sank when he heard the familiar voice.

"Be quiet you!" Peridot barked. "Now like I was saying-"

"Do you _ever_ shut up?"

A different voice asked it this time. This one was much deeper than the others'. There was a slight scuffling noise. An orange hand pushed Peridot away from the screen. She gave a squawk of protest. The orange hand appeared in front of the screen again, and it was holding on to someone else's arm. The someone attached to it was Lapis.

"Lapis!"

His friend sadly stared at the screen, and started to say something. But she was suddenly pulled away from the screen. The transmission turned to static, but the sounds in the background could still be heard. It sounded like the gems were fighting amongst themselves. Over who recorded the message.

 _"Jasper!_ That was supposed to be a surprise!"

"Quit whining you. I came on this mission for one reason, and one reason only-"

The message suddenly cut out there. Then, it started to repeat once again.

"This is peridot six-eighteen, here with a message for-"

Garnet pulled the plug out of the TV before it could continue. The group let out a collective sigh now that the transmission had ended. Greg rested his hand on Steven's shoulder.

"That's some pretty heavy stuff."

"Aw man! What are we gonna' do?!" Amethyst asked.

"They're coming back!" Pearl yelled back.

Before they could start to scream at each other even more, Garnet separated Pearl and Amethyst.

"Woo, we did it."

"What?" Pearl asked

"We got the message." Garnet said.

"But-!"

"It's got!"

Garnet offered her hand to Greg. She gave him a surprisingly gentle handshake.

"Thank you Greg, we would not have received this message without your help."

"You, you're welcome."

The group looked over at Steven. He hadn't said anything in response to Greg. The boy stared up at the sky, focused on a constellation of stars that was starting to appear in the night sky. His eyes were hard, and he held a firm grimace. The gems and Greg fell back into silence as well.

There were only four days left until Peridot returned. And this time, she would not be alone.


	28. Two

Connie and Steven were sitting in the kitchen at Vidalia's house. They were eating the lunch of sandwiches that Vidalia had made for them earlier. They were simple ham and cheese sandwiches, that had been cut into triangular quarters. Connie, so unused to having meat and cheese that had additional sodium in it, was amazed by them. Her parents never let her have the crusts cut off of her sandwiches either. Something as small as that easily astounded her.

Steven usually had a fascination with his food as well. He liked eating and trying different things. There was so much food out there that he didn't even know about. There were different ways to prepare the same thing, and foods he didn't even know were edible! Plus, in his experience with eating, he was still getting used to having regular meals. Meals that weren't composed of raw fish or plain vegetables. While he would have normally eaten his food right away, today, he didn't.

Instead, he morosely poked the top of his sandwich, making little holes in the bread until the ham started to show. Steven hadn't talked much either, even though he wanted to with Connie. He just felt too tired to talk, or even be happy. They were going to the movies today, to see something about a dog and a helicopter. Connie seemed to be really excited about it, and he wanted to catch on to her enthusiasm. But he just couldn't. Not when everything was starting to fall apart like this.

"-and it turns out the one who is most human, is a dog! Copter..."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Steven sighed.

Connie finally seemed to notice his glum mood. Adjusting her glasses, she asked;

"Are you ok?"

Taking a small bite of his sandwich, Steven nodded.

"I guess so."

"Are you sure?" Connie asked.

"Not really..." He trailed.

"Well, what is it? Is it a magic thing?"

_"Maaaybe?"_

He didn't want to tell Connie that in three days, he would have to leave the Earth. Forever. How was he supposed to explain that to her?! They'd only just become friends! He didn't want to lose yet another friend, but he had no choice. And he at least wanted her to be happy for a little longer, even though he wouldn't be. It just wasn't fair! But it had to be done.

Once the gems arrived, he had to start acting like a proper Home World gem would again. He had to start remembering how to distance himself, and not speak out of turn to his elders. He had to remember all of those awful rules that the planet forced on him and everyone else. He didn't like this either, but it was another necessary evil. Otherwise there would be questions about his conduct while off-planet, and he would get into so much trouble if anyone found out the truth.

"What happened?" Connie said. "Tell me, please?"

"I don't wanna'!"

Her smile faded, and she blushed slightly.

"Oh. Ok."

"It's not a happy story." He added. "I don't like sad things!"

Connie sighed, resting her elbows on the table.

"I wish I had cool magical stories to tell."

"Magic isn't fun. It only causes more problems."

"But you could learn from your mistakes." Connie suggested. "Just like the protagonist of my favorite book series! The Unfamiliar Familiar! Nobody's perfect with their powers at first, that isn't possible. You have to make mistakes, and struggle to learn from them along the way!"

Maybe Connie had a point. He couldn't keep hiding from his powers if they were going to return him to Home World. While on Earth, he had been making some progress. He knew what his weapon was, could summon his bubble a little more easily, and he had healing spit. That had to count for something! In fact, he had even learned how to defend himself a little better thanks to Apatite.

"I'm still not very good with gem stuff." He replied. "You're great at human stuff though. I wish I could be."

Not that it mattered anymore. There was no point in learning how to be human and blend in with his surroundings if the Home World was specifically looking for him. They knew he was on this planet, and they had Lapis with them. It was almost like they had taken her prisoner, and they were threatening him with his friend.

But, why would the Home World do that if they were looking for him? Could it be some sort of trick? Maybe they thought he might want to stay on Earth by the end of this all, and they were just pretending to hold her prisoner. Yeah, that made sense! It was just a test to make sure he was still loyal to the Home World!

"The only things I'm good at are tennis and dancing."

"Really?"

Connie stood up, and held out her juice box. She swept her arm out a few times.

"Forehand! Backhand! Overhead death strike!"

"Wow! Tennis must be so cool!"

Connie slumped back into her seat, and took a sip of juice.

"Not really. And I kinda' made up that last move."

"What about dancing?" Steven asked.

"I like it." She said, rubbing her arms. "But I could never dance in front of anyone. Just the thought of everyone staring at me..."

Connie shivered, and she pushed away her plate. There were only crumbs left on it anyways. Steven looked down at his own, slightly nibbled on sandwich. Then he looked back at his friend. Now Connie was sad as well. He hadn't meant to spread the sadness! He was trying to keep it away from her! She was still supposed to be happy because she didn't know about the message!

What could he do to cheer her up though? Maybe, a dance? She said she liked dancing, so they could try doing that together. Even if he was terrible at it. But if it would make her happy again, then he would do it. Glancing at the kitchen entrance, Steven listened for any noises. He didn't hear anything other than the air conditioning. That meant Vidalia was busy painting something in the garage.

"Well, no one's staring now."

"You are."

"Oh. Uh, right." He blushed. "What I was trying to say was, come dance with me."

From across the table, he offered her his hand.

"What if someone sees us?" She asked.

"Sour Cream's still at summer school, and Onion does his own thing." Steven said. "Plus, Vidalia's busy with her art right now."

Connie took his hand, and she carefully walked around the table.

"Maybe we should move some of the chairs out of the way first." Connie said.

Steven nodded. They pushed them to the side do they had more room to dance in the small kitchen. But just before they could start, Connie remembered something.

"Oh, wait!"

She grabbed her cellphone and went to her list of songs. She only had the demo one that came with it. Her parents wouldn't let her download any songs on her phone. It was only for calling them when she was home alone, or not at the house. Still, she played the song, and took his hand yet again. He gently tugged her arm, causing Connie to take another step forwards.

Both blushing heavily, they started to dance in time with the music. They copied each other's steps, going back and forth, before taking a diagonal step. Steven let go of her and started to do his own little dance. Connie made up a solo of her own. The pressing strain of nervousness was lifted off her chest as he smiled encouragingly at her. Feeling more at ease, she tried a few of the steps that she had made up on her own. Then, they joined hands again.

Before they could repeat, Steven caught her by surprise, spinning her around. Connie giggled as the world became mere streaks of colour. Her skirt flared out in a circle, flapping at her legs. She hadn't had this much fun in forever! Connie was so glad to have a friend like Steven. He was the greatest, he made everything better. She never wanted their dance to end.

Dizzy from the twirl, she stepped forwards. Connie felt her foot catch on something. Steven tripped, but she caught him before he could fall. Connie became aware of how alarmingly close Steven's face was to her own. His eyes were wide open, still surprised from being tripped. When the world caught up with him, he laughed. Connie did as well, and they both leaned closer towards each other.

Then, nothing.

When they opened their eyes again, something was different. They tried to take a step, but two pairs of oddly tight shoes tripped them. Staring down at their feet, Steven and Connie tried to understand what was going on. They picked up Steven's sandal, and noticed how small their foot was when compared to the sandal. That didn't make any sense.

"What? Why is my-your sandal to big for our-?"

Staring at the unusually dark skin on his body, and his extra large hands, Steven realized what was going on. Slowly, they started to scream. Connie didn't know why they were screaming though, and tried to talk to themselves mid-scream.

"What's going on? Is this one of those magic things?"

"We need to stop this!" They yelled back.

"Stop what?! Can it hurt us?"

"We're a- we became a fusion!"

"A whaaat?"

"It doesn't matter! We need to-"

Their heart started to speed up. The fusion clutched their chest, trying to understand what was going on and why this was happening to them. They needed to communicate with each other about what was- No, they needed to unfuse, right away! Why couldn't they unfuse? How did fusion work?! What even was fusion?! Why was this happening to them?!

"We need to calm down!"

"No, we need to unfuse!"

"How do we do that?"

"I don't know! It's a gem thing!"

The fusion tried to take deep breaths to stop themself from hyperventilating.

"Steven, what's wrong?"

"This is! We need to unfuse now!"

"Why? I kinda' like it now."

They started to relax a little more. Their thoughts seemed to meld into one again, even as their conversation as two separate entities continued. Steven realized that he liked being tall, he liked having this larger, more buff physical form. He finally felt stronger. He felt like he could take on an entire army of Home World gems! This was great! Fusion felt fantastic!

"This is also highly illegal where I'm from."

"Is it illegal here?"

"No."

A sly grin crept on to the fusion's face.

"Well they can't arrest you for fusion on a planet that isn't theirs." They pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right."

They adopted a serious expression, like the one that Garnet often wore. The fusion struck a pose, placing her hands on their hips. They stared majestically into the distance (Or rather, the ceiling.) And tossed their long, dark brown hair over their shoulders. Then they declared to the world;

"I'm a fusion."

Just then, Vidalia danced into the room. She had her ear buds in and was swaying to the tune of her music. In her hands was a large, glass jar full of paint solvent. It had turned a muddy-purple colour after cleaning her brush so many times. She was so focused on her fancy dancing, that she did not even see that she was not alone in the room. At least, until she turned around and was faced with the tall figure of, someone.

"HOLY SH-" Vidalia dropped the jar of solvent before she could finish her words. "Who are you?! Why are you in my house?!"

"Vidalia, it's us!" The stranger explained. "Connie and- We, Steven, we fused!"

"You fused?!"

"It's a gem thing." They shrugged.

Taking in the stranger, Vidalia saw that they indeed looked like Steven and Connie had a child that then grew up into an adult. They had Connie's hair colour, and Steven's curls. Her outfit looked like a mixture of the ones the kids had been wearing before. Jean capris from Steven, the shirt colour from Connie, and so on. Even their face looked like the two mixed together.

Vidalia had to fan her face. She was starting to feel faint, and it wasn't just because the smell of the solvent was getting to her.

"So are you two going to, unfuse?" Vidalia asked.

"We kinda' like being together." They replied. "Besides, now we'll only have to pay for one ticket at the movies!"

 _"Yeeeah,_ about that. Greg and I need to talk about something important, uh. Do you have a name?"

"It's..."

They had a quick conference with themselves, trying to decide on a name.

"Stevonnie!" They said.

"Ok, Stevonnie. I've got some adult talk stuff to do with Greg. I'm sorry, but you'll have to go to the movies later."

"That's fine!" Stevonnie dismissed. "We wanna' show everyone ourselves!"

"Right... Have fun?"

The door had opened and closed before Vidalia could even finish what he was saying. Stevonnie was gone.

"Later!"

* * *

"Oh boy."

This was all Amethyst could say. She had been shocked into saying nothing after seeing what she just had. The gem couldn't quite believe her eyes. Steven, the Home World gem who supposedly hated fusion, was fused. With his fellow human being and friend no less. How this had happened and how this was even possible was a mystery to Amethyst. She simply couldn't comprehend what she was looking at.

But there, standing in front of him, was the Steven-Connie fusion, Stevonnie. The usual crowd of spectators that like to watch her acts were also struck dumb by Stevonnie. They all stared at them, not saying anything. Stevonnie still proudly held themselves out, with their arms spread and jazz hands shaking. When no one reacted, they stopped.

"So, what do you think?" Stevonnie asked.

"You fused?" Amethyst asked.

"Yup!"

"Steven willingly fused, with a human?"

"Definitely! He was a little scared at first, but we're all happy now."

"You mean, he wants to stay fused with you?"

"Of course! This feels great!" They said. "I wish I had known how amazing it felt before! Being split up is nothing compared to this!"

Stevonnie giggled at what they had just said, but Amethyst sill wasn't smiling. The more she heard Stevonnie speak, the worse the feeling in her stomach got. There was something unsettling, something oddly familiar about what she was saying. Amethyst knew from experience that too much of a good thing could end up badly. Especially when it came to fusion.

"I'm sick of being split up!"

"As am I."

The tiny little bits of Sugilite and Opal in her knew exactly what Stevonnie was feeling. Amethyst knew that she couldn't explain it well to Stevonnie. This was something perfect for Garnet to help explain! She knew what it was like being a fusion twenty-four seven! Of course, convincing both Garnet and Stevonnie to cooperate was easier said than done.

"So, Stevonnie! What are you planning on doing now?"

"I'm gonna' find a gem monster and beat it up!" They said, punching their palm.

Amethyst tried to laugh at this, but quickly stopped. She averted her eyes, trying to find a way to make the fusion see a bit of reason.

"Whoa, that seems like a little much don'tcha' think?"

"No way! Now that we're a fusion, we can take on anything!"

"Easy there you two. You're not exactly invincible."

"We can take it on together!" Stevonnie suggested. "C'mon! It would be super fun!"

"I'd love to, but I can't."

"Why not?"

"As soon as I get off work, I have some adult stuff to talk about with the g- Adults! The adults!"

"We're an adult now!" Stevonnie said. "We could totally go with you!"

"Guys, I really think you should unfuse "

Stevonnie's easy smile vanished.

"I, what do you mean?"

"Fusion isn't something you should just, rush into ya' know?" Amethyst said. "I don't wanna' sound like a downer, but I've been fused before."

Stevonnie crossed her arms.

"Well maybe I don't want to."

I was a large step up from we. Fusion wasn't about one or the other. All the personalities had to take the others into consideration. It was good that Stevonnie was developing a bit of a personality, more than Opal ever had actually. But too soon and too quickly wasn't a good thing for any of them.

"Stevonnie, let Steven and Connie take control again."

"No! You can't tell me what to do!"

The people who had been giving her tips earlier had all left. The front of The Big Doughnut was deserted, all except for them. Amethyst looked inside the store, wondering if she should fight back if something broke out between them. She didn't want to get in trouble after only just getting this job.

They had to talk first. Amethyst had tried to take what Steven had said in to mind. It was better to try reasoning with someone before fighting. Well, maybe not with another gem, but with another human, it was. Gems were more interested in fighting without ever talking to each other at all. They were much more... Vicious than humans.

Trying to channel her inner Pearl, Amethyst straightened her posture, trying to seem taller than Stevonnie. Then, she placed her hands on her hips, and sharply commanded;

"That's enough you two. Split up."

"I don't have to listen to you." She said. "I'm an adult. I can make decisions on my own!"

"Look-"

"No, you look! I'm sick of everyone telling me what to do! I'm sick or rules! I'm going to do what I want and none of you can stop me!

In a rather child-like fashion, they stomped their foot. Unused to their new strength, their foot punctured through the asphalt as if it were made of butter. It sent slight tremors through the ground. The large doughnut ornament on top of the building wobbled precariously. It started to fall before Stevonnie could see what was happening. Amethyst did though. She dashed towards them, and was quickly flattened underneath the decoration. There was only a slight "oof" of pain from Amethyst as it landed on top of her. Or rather, the equally large doughnut costume that she wore. Stevonnie gasped, pressing a hand to their mouth. They pulled the doughnut off of Amethyst, who was laying flat and helpless on the ground. She looked completely uninjured, if a little dazed. Slowly, she rose a hand to give a thumbs up.

"I'm ok." She groaned.

"Are you- Hey! Stop that! What are you-?!"

Stevonnie's figure became distorted, they tried to keep themselves together, but Steven and Connie pulled away from each other. They fell backwards, wide-eyed and confused as they took in their surroundings. Steven didn't quite know how to feel. They had been fused, for the first time ever. It had seemed fun at first, but then they started to lose control. They weren't the ones deciding what to do. It wasn't him who was strong, it was Stevonnie. She was the one really holding all the power. He was just cheating, taking a shortcut to get there. He wasn't the one fighting, it was someone else. Someone who wasn't him or Connie. He didn't like it. The sensation was wrong, the entire thing all felt horribly frightening. It was almost like having his conscience in charge of his actions. Only, it wasn't himself, it was a new person all together. He realized that he felt used. Just a means to an end. A quick way to get something done. Fusion was cheating, dishonorable. He'd been taught that since the beginning. It wasn't until he had been fused for himself that the message was truly clear.

Steven stopped feeling bad for himself when he remembered Connie. He at least knew what was going on, why there was a new, angry voice telling him that he could make his own decisions, that he didn't have to do anything for anyone other than himself. He never really had liked listening to orders, but they were orders. The whole point of them was to obey. Otherwise you got in trouble bad things happened to gems that didn't do as they were told. He also knew that Connie didn't like listening to what her parents had to say that much either. But this, Stevonnie, she didn't want to listen to anyone. That was taking things a step too far. They had to listen to what their elders said!

Ignoring his scraped knees and elbows, he crawled over to his friend. Connie was staring at the scrapes she had gotten on her elbows. When they fell, both of them had skidded across the ground slightly. But Connie didn't seem bothered by the blood or the potential trouble that she might be in what happened.

"Connie! Are you ok?"

Connie started to laugh. It started with a small giggle, but then it grew into a laugh. Steven didn't know what to think of her reaction.

"Oh...Oh boy...this is so weird, you really are an alien..."

"Why are you laughing?"

Connie ran out of breath, her laughing turned into hiccups. Then she started to sniffle. Steven was equally horrified and surprised by how his friend was acting.

"Why are you crying?"

"W-what was that?" She asked.

"Magic stuff."

Rubbing her elbow, she shuddered.

"That was-"

"-weird." He finished.

They both shivered this time, put off by their similar train of thought. Fusion had been great at first, but it was still really awkward. Trying to share one body, slowly understanding stuff about the other. Learning a lot of private things. Not necessarily secrets, but emotions, the way they felt about one thing or the other. Seeing things through the others' eyes, and their own at the same time. It wasn't simply weird, it was too close for comfort. It made the duo want to be as far away as possible from each other, after being as close as they could ever get.

"You're so, nervous!" Steven blurted. "It makes me feel nervous as well!"

"You are too!" Connie shot back. "And..."

"What?"

Connie couldn't quite meet his eyes.

"Nothing. I just felt a little like... We weren't alone in there."

"It was just Stevonnie."

Steven tried to pass it off as fact, even though he understood as little as Connie. The truth was, even before they had fused, it didn't always feel like he was alone. But he chalked that up to the paranoia that the Home World inspired. There was always someone out there watching your actions on the planet. A security worker, a tracking device, his very own mentor... There was none of that on Earth, but some of the time he felt like it. But there was no one. Humans didn't do that sort of thing to other humans.

"Why were you so scared?" Connie asked.

He almost sighed in relief when Connie asked this. So she hadn't seen much of his time on Earth then. Probably just a few normal human things that he had picked up. He just didn't want her to know what would be coming in three days' time. At least until the very last moment. And that was only if she asked him. Besides, humans lived short lives. She'd be an adult and forget all about him within a couple decades! That wouldn't take too long!

"Fusion's supposed to be illegal where I'm from, remember?"

"Oh, right." Connie rubbed her elbow again. "I guess I know why now."

"I can heal that for you!" He blurted. "So your parent's won't ask."

She looked at him, surprised. Steven was surprised as well that he had made the offer. The boy didn't know what had compelled him to do so. It just seemed like the right thing to do. After all, he had gotten them into this whole fusion mess when he asked her to dance. Connie didn't seem to see it the same way as he did though. She refused, slowly shaking her head.

"N-no, it's fine. So long as I disinfect them, I won't get in any trouble."

"Ok." He quietly said, blushing. "Maybe I could hug it better?"

Connie blushed too, and nodded. They embraced, while still sitting on the ground.

"Is this a real human form of recovery?" He asked.

For some reason, Connie laughed at the question.

"I guess you could say that."

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess."

"It's fine, it's fine! Friends get into trouble some of the time!"

"They do?"

"Of course they do!" She said, starting to smile again. "Besides, having a crazy magic adventure with a friend is a lot more exciting than sitting on the beach and reading about them."

"Y-yeah!"

 _"Sooo,_ are either of you going to help me up?"

Connie and Steven snapped apart when they remembered that Amethyst was still spread-eagled on the ground. The sheer weight and shape of her doughnut costume was preventing the gem from standing up. While laying down in her costume, the gem's arms and legs could not even touch the ground. She way she wriggled around reminded Steven of a turtle.

Getting over their temporary embarrassment, Steven and Connie helped Amethyst up.

"Uh, sorry for going crazy on you Amethyst." Steven said.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to."

"Don't sweat it!" Amethyst waved off. "Happens to the best of us. Just, help me up faster next time."

The kids nodded in union. Amethyst stretched her arms, glad to have the use of them once again.

"So, where should you be now?"

"We were supposed to go to the movies, but Vidalia said she had boring adult stuff to do."

"Oh! That reminds me, I have to talk to her as well!"

Amethyst didn't wait to hear what they had to say. As much as she didn't want to bail on Steven and his little friend, duty called. Some talking had to be done if they were going to get anywhere. Protecting the planet was high up on the list of important things that had to be done. She had to explain some things to Greg and Vidalia before they talked to the gems.

There were only three days until Peridot returned to Earth.


	29. One

Amethyst and Steven were at the beach. Amethyst wasn't working at the moment, and had taken the time to hang out with Steven. Sometimes things were still a little awkward between them, but they were getting better. Amethyst wasn't sure if Steven completely forgave her for anything she had done yet, but she knew they were on the way to getting there. That was good enough for her. But right now, Amethyst was not too worried about that.

Steven had taken it upon himself to demonstrate his sand castle-making skills. He had been eager to show off before, but not as much once he started to build. Something seemed to be bothering him ever since they stepped foot on the beach. But Amethyst had no idea what the reason for that could be. It must of had to do with the gems returning to Earth. But he hadn't looked too worried from what she had seen of him. If anything, he was rather _relaxed_ for someone who didn't want to go back to their home planet.

But she tried not to think too much on his reactions. It was probably nothing anyways. Amethyst was having fun stirring up dust-devils in the sand while she waited for him to call her over. She curled in to a ball and dashed to one end of the beach, then she sped over to the other, raising a cloud of sand as she went. There were zigzag tracks all across the sand from where she had traveled. It was fun to watch everyone's confused expressions when she went past them.

Causing trouble with the sand was not merely a fun pastime though. It was training. She was trying to build up her endurance, see how long she could hold the position before her back decided that it didn't want to bend at a strange angle any more. Also, Amethyst realized that it was a useful way for her to dig holes, should the need to ever arise. It seemed like she had been doing a lot of training recently. Figuring out battle strategies, practicing fusion, learning how to fight with more than just her own weapon. She had come to a somewhat mutual agreement with the other gems. They all knew that the longer they stuck together, the easier it would be to fight off any others that came their way.

Amethyst was aware she had no choice but to start training with them. Protecting Steven and the rest of the world was important enough for her to decide that working with the gems was worth it. They were dealing with an unknown amount of force, and had to be prepared for anything that threw itself in their direction. Whether that be a weapon, knew gem technology, or the threat of using someone against them.

That didn't mean she had to act nice around them though. It hurt Pearl, and it did for Garnet as well, even though she couldn't always see it. Still some of her hurt over how the way things ended up. She knew that Garnet and Pearl would act the way they did. She had to take her own direction because she wasn't like them. She hadn't been involved in the first war, or even known of any details beyond how they won. She knew that her teammate's hearts had been in the right place, even if they were a little misguided at the time, and didn't always make the best choices.

Shaking her head, Amethyst rid herself of her thoughts, and the sand she was coated with. It flew everywhere, yet she could feel the itchy little rocks still clinging to her hair and skin. A glance at Steven showed that he was still staring at the sand. A slight frown was beginning to crease his face, and he tried to wipe the sand off of his hands. The curiosity returned. What was bothering the little guy? Amethyst went over to him. She crouched down in the sand next to Steven and asked;

"How's your castle going?"

Steven picked up a handful of sand, and then let it pour between his fingers.

"Are there any smashed gems mixed in the sand here?"

And, just like that, the conversation took a turn for the darker. Amethyst looked around the beach, trying to find some kind of distraction, a way to change the subject, anything. Just something she could use to avoid responding to a question that she had no answer for. Then, she saw it, the perfect distraction within the water. The distraction was swimming towards them at an incredibly fast speed, all four arms wind-milling through the air and back into the water again. It dragged up a current behind them, and large waved crashed upon the beach.

"Hey look at that thing that has nothing to do with your question!" Amethyst said, pointing towards it.

Steven had already scurried away from the shore when the waves became too large for his liking. He was standing farther away from the shore. Amethyst joined him, and waited for Sardonyx to finish with her swimming. The fusion got out of the water, and daintily shook herself dry. Then, twisting around, she got rid of the water clinging to her hair. She finally spotted her and Steven on the beach, and practically strutted towards them.

"Why hello! I didn't see you there!"

Amethyst rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Sardonyx knew they were there the entire time. Steven stepped backwards, taking in the enormous fusion. She crouched over and offered Steven her hand. He hesitantly shook her pinky finger.

"Nice to meet you?"

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine!" She grinned. She grinned. "I've been wanting to talk to you for so long now!"

Steven whispered to Amethyst;

"Is that a good thing?"

Obviously, he didn't ask quietly enough. The fusion laughed loudly enough to make the ground shake, and pressed a hand to her chest.

"Why I dare say you're quite the comedian! That's a good trait for a gem to have you know!"

"Thank you-"

"Sardonyx." She answered. "That's S-A-R-D-O-N-Y-X with an extra stress on the r!"

Unable to help herself, Amethyst snorted, and crossed her arms.

"So you're a fusion." He said.

"Of course!"

"Why are you together?"

"So we can train!"

"You're training, together?"

The fusion made a point by stretching out her arms.

"Well I do have to get back into shape again! Garnet and Pearl have been out of it for the past few years!"

Steven still seemed to find this weird, but Amethyst figured that it had to do with his experiences from yesterday. Anyone would be put off from fusion after that.

"What can you do?"

Bending over, the gem held out her hand to Amethyst and asked;

"Amethyst?"

Nodding, the gem stepped on to her hand. Then, Sardonyx tossed her up into the air. Just like they had practiced, Amethyst curled into a ball. At the same time, Sardonyx summoned her own weapon, a giant hammer. Just as Amethyst started to fall, she struck, sending Amethyst sailing through the air. Amethyst crashed into one of the beach's cliff's, with enough force to make an Amethyst-shaped hole in the wall. It was oddly kindergarten-like, but not very deep. Amethyst fell backwards, landing in the sand. She shook herself off, and gave a thumbs up to Steven.

"I'm ok!"

Then, she picked up one of the boulders that lay near the bottom of the bluffs. Amethyst leaped to the top of the cliff, only to drop the boulder. Instead of using her weapon to throw it like Sardonyx had, she shape-shifted into a bat, and hit the boulder. There was a loud crack, and the boulder sailed towards them. Sardonyx ran to intercept the boulder before it could touch the sand. She rebounded it with her hammer, splitting the rock into halves as she did so. This time, Amethyst used her whip to catch one of the halves, while she kicked the other one back towards Sardonyx.

Eventually, they were juggling back smaller and smaller rocks to each other. When the first boulder became too small, Amethyst threw another one into the mix. Sardonyx grabbed a log that had washed up on the beach, and threw it towards Amethyst as if it were a javelin. Amethyst had to catch the log in-mid air so she could throw it back to the fusion. Steven watched the dizzying display of power with awe. Even when working against a fusion, Amethyst was still able to handle things much larger than herself. Instead of trying to out-muscle, she used the force of Sardonyx's throws to send the projectiles back at her. None of the gems seemed to be tired by this either.

"Hey! Let's add Steven into the mix!"

"Brilliant idea!"

Steven didn't realize what they had yelled at each other until it was too late. Sardonyx picked him up, and he was thrown towards Amethyst. He tumbled through the air, unable to control where he was going. Amethyst caught him instead of kicking him back, or worse. Once his flight stopped, Steven thought that it wasn't so bad. But before he could say anything, he was thrown back towards Sardonyx. She caught him with two of her hands, and returned a new boulder and log with the others. Just as she started to throw him back again, she suggested;

"Straighten out your posture! You'll soar through the air!"

As the battle of multi-tasking waged on, Steven realized that it was good advice. He had seen Apatite do the same thing when she took long jumps. He tried to remember what his friend looked like when she did, and then copied it to the best of his ability. It at least prevented him from somersaulting through the air, and he could see where he was going a little more. Being tossed through the air was surprisingly fun once he got the hang of it.

As Sardonyx caught him again, she said;

"Magnificent job! I couldn't do it better myself!"

Strangely enough, he found himself grinning at the praise. It didn't sound like anything that either Garnet or Pearl would say. Somehow hearing it from the fusion made him feel proud of himself. It seemed like being smaller finally had an advantage to it. He was so used to the strategy of "out-muscle your opponent" being repeated to him over and over again, that he never thought about other ways to defeat them.

Being stronger than someone wasn't a strategy. You couldn't predict how strong your enemy would be. Finding a way to use their power against them was way better. Even Amethyst, who looked so tiny even when compared to Pearl, could hold her own against the enormous fusion. He had to remind himself that it was between three gems, and not two. Most of the time when he saw the gems, he didn't think of Garnet as a fusion. She was Garnet. That's all there was to it.

"Keep it up Ste-Man!" Amethyst said, punching a boulder. "You're doing great!"

It was eventually Sardonyx that could no longer keep up. Amethyst threw everything she had at the fusion, and that included Steven. However, that also meant that Sardonyx had to run in four different directions to catch everything, which she obviously couldn't do. Even with four arms, the feat was impossible for her. She ran towards Steven, and managed to catch him before he could land in the ocean. Sardonyx however, tripped and fell with him still in her outstretched hands. Wincing in pain and laughing at the same time, she coughed;

"Good s-show."

There was a loud whoosh of air, and Sardonyx vanished, leaving Garnet and Pearl in her place. Both gems were laying on the ground, their limbs rather tangled in each other. Steven was standing on the hands of Garnet and Pearl. Blushing, he stepped away from them. Garnet rubbed the hand that he had stepped on, checking over her gem. Pearl did the same, rubbing her wrist in the process.

"S-sorry!"

"S'ok." Garnet choked. "We got a little carried away."

Amethyst slid down the cliff and ran towards them. She was panting by the time that she reached them. All the gems had slightly giddy grins on their faces.

"You guys alright?" She asked.

Everyone nodded.

"You guys are really strong!" Steven blurted.

Pearl up and dusted the sand off of her front.

"Yes well, practice makes perfect."

"Alright, who's next?" Amethyst asked.

The gems started to discuss amongst themselves who they would practice with next. Steven tuned them out, not really interested in who they were going to fuse into next. He started at the temple instead, wondering how it was they remained so in control with their fusion. Maybe it was a practice thing, a skill that had to be learned over time. He certainly knew that Stevonnie didn't want to leave.

She didn't really seem to take what he and Connie thought into consideration. She slowly became her own person, and didn't want to listen at all. That was bad. But the gems didn't seem to be having that sort of problem. Even Garnet, who stayed fused all the time seemed willing to split when necessary. She seemed in control, much more balanced.

As he stared at the gem's base, Steven started to notice something about it. Most of the structure was buried in the sand, so he'd never gotten the chance to pay attention to it. But now he realized that there were hands sticking out of the hill. They extended out towards the beach, and two of them had gems in their palms. But not only that, there was a face, slightly hidden in the rock. He'd never really seen any of this before. He'd tried to avoid the temple. And when he left, he never looked back. But now that he was looking back, he realized that it was more than just a pretty statue. Seeing Sardonyx made him realize that there were similarities between this statue and the fusion. In fact, it almost looked like an even larger fusion.

"Can you fuse into her?" He asked, pointing to the temple.

The gems looked to where he was staring. Immediately, all of their grins faded. Pearl started to blink a little more than normal, as if she was trying not to cry. She tightly clasped her hands together, and shook her head. Garnet took the position of explaining.

"No. She'll never be able to form again."

"What? Why not?"

"We're one gem short."

"Amethyst?"

The gem shook her head.

"Then, who-?"

Steven realized that all of the gems were staring at him. His stomach did a slight flop when he realized what they were implying.

"I just thought because of the hair..."

"Nah, my hair's messier than that."

"Well, I suppose we could form Alexandrite." Pearl said.

"Cool! Pearl and I will form Opal, and then from there we can-"

"OH MY GOSH STEVEN ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

Their conversation was interrupted by Greg, who ran up to the Crystal Gems. His normally pink face was even more red than usual. Greg had clearly run a long way to catch up to them.

"I'm fine." Steven assured.

"Then why is the whole town insisting that I let my son perform dangerous stunts with magical ladies?!"

"Son?" Pearl asked.

Suddenly, Pearl remembered that she and Amethyst had an argument over whether or not Steven was related to Greg. It had occurred forever ago now that she thought about it. Even when things felt like a complicated mess then, it was all extraordinarily simple compared to what they were going through now.

Of course, the idea of their relation was completely preposterous. Just because they had similar facial features, builds, interests, talents, and expressions, it didn't mean they were related! There were several billion humans out there, he could easily be related to any one else! Additionally, she didn't want to be proven wrong by Amethyst of all people. That would just be humiliating.

"Well, not really." Greg admitted. "The whole town just thinks he is."

Grinning, Amethyst nudged Pearl in the ribs.

"Maybe they really are related."

"They are not." Pearl snapped. "A simple comparison of their genes will prove you wrong."

Greg backed away from the gems. He still wasn't too crazy about the whole giving his DNA to aliens thing. Not after what had happened the last time. He had a permanent bald spot thanks to them!

"Maybe we should go to a certified doctor." Greg suggested. "I'm sure it would be much... Safer."

"I'd only need to take a few ounces of blood." Pearl said. "And your human blood cells will replace what you've lost anyways."

"I already know a doctor!" Greg insisted. "I'm sure she could help me with that kind of stuff!"

"Well, if you insist."

Getting over his fear of having blood stolen by magical gem-ladies, Greg tried to appear strict again. He cleared his throat and put his hands on his hips.

"So why is Steven doing dangerous stunts again?"

"Aw, lighten up Greg!" Amethyst said, punching his arm. "Steven's a gem! He'll be fine!"

"I'm just not sure if I'm comfortable with that." He said, rubbing the spot where he had been punched.

"I've been through worse." Steven added. "The training on Home World is a lot more dangerous than this!"

From behind him, Garnet and Pearl shared guilty looks. If training was worse than being on the run, then he had been through a lot.

"Well, alright." Greg said. "But only because you're fine with it."

Steven and Amethyst waved to Greg, who started to walk back to the boardwalk. He gave them a small wave and the largest smile he could manage. Which was weak at best. Greg ignored the people who were pointing at him and whispering things behind his back. About his "parenting" skills no doubt.

Something about passively taking all of this caused the man to snap. On the inside at least. He was growing sick of being the town weirdo, just because he had been kidnapped by aliens. There were aliens living right next door to the town! Why would it be so hard to believe that he was taken by different ones?! He and Steven would get that paternity test! Just to make all the people in Beach City to shut up for once!

* * *

When told that she was going on a vitally important mission, this was not what Jasper had in mind. The trip had started out well enough. She was assigned by Yellow Diamond herself to be the escort for a detainment crew. Being picked for the job was an honor, especially given the confidentiality of this one. When she arrived at the port, things seemed to be going better than she could have possibly imagined. They had a warship and permission to use excessive force. What was not to like about that? When told force was allowed, Jasper figured that she would be commanding a medium-sized amount of troops at the very least. They must have been going off to fight some small battle with one of their various enemies, or perhaps they were working on the beginnings of guerrilla warfare.

It was a nasty shock when she discovered that the only gems actually on the ship included a prisoner, and the technician that would be running the entire thing. Clearly they weren't going off to fight a war of any sorts. When she was filled in on the details of what they would be doing, Jasper realized that quite literally, she would be an escort, a wall of muscle for some wimpy technician. That had seemed awful until she realized where their destination was, and who they were rescuing off the planet. The ever-changing mix of frustration and excitement was building up inside of the gem. She couldn't wait to arrive, but she was not sure if she was excited to get things over with, or if she was ready to tear apart every Crystal Gem within her sights. Either way, the wait was absolutely killing her.

The overly large ship could only keep her entertained for so long. There was not much to see beyond the barracks and rows of prison cells. The barracks were useless when only she would have any reason to use one. Peridot was constantly monitoring the ship. The prison cells were equally useless. She wasn't taking any prisoners, should the situation arrive. Only one was currently in use. Jasper hadn't bothered to pay any attention to the other gem once she realized that she wasn't going to talk. Or react. Or do anything for that matter. It was just so boring!

Finally, she grew impatient enough to do something about it. Exiting the barracks, she marched down the endless, green, halls. Jasper knew from muscle memory where everything on the warship would be, even if she had likely never flown in this one before. They were all built to the same, standard regulations. There was nothing new to find on any of them. Taking a sharp turn to the left, she leaped up a flight of stairs, and continued down yet another hallway. She kept her eyes facing forwards, not bothering with the view of empty space outside. There was nothing to see other than stars and the occasional planet. She reached the control room, where Peridot was clearly immersed in her work. Well, not for long. Pinching the back of the gem's neck, Jasper lifted Peridot away from her work. The gem's eyes immediately returned to their normal colour, and she began to show expression once again. In this case, annoyance.

"What do you want?" She sighed, crossing her arms.

"How long until we reach Earth?"

The gem's already whiny voice became more high-pitched.

"Jasper, for the last time, we won't be there for another day!"

"Can't you speed things up?" Jasper asked, reaching for the control panel.

"Don't touch anything!"

The gem rolled her eyes, but followed the order. The last thing she needed to do was cause their trip to slow down even more than it already had.

"How about we liven things up then?" Jasper asked. "Let's go through an asteroid field! There's one on that planet over there!"

Jasper pointed the pale, yellow-white planet that they were passing by. There was a ring of asteroids slowly rotating around it.

"We can't go off the chartered course." Peridot sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Then can we at least go faster?"

"It would break the regulations."

Placing the gem back on the ground, Jasper batted a hand.

"We're in the middle of nowhere Peridot, the law doesn't apply here."

Realizing that her escort was right, Peridot started to sputter. Jasper slapped the gem on the back before she could choke herself into reformation. This only caused her to stumble forwards on clearly unpracticed legs. Stupid limb enhancers. You actually had to do some walking before you got used to them. Clearly this gem didn't do a lot of anything beyond work. Pathetic really. Especially since she had seen the need to get the enhancers, even though she had no use for them. What a sad world it was when a technician actually felt that it could be of any use in actual combat.

"But if they found out, it would look bad!"

"It won't look bad when I crush those remaining gems into powder." Jasper pointed out.

"Well I told those gems that we would arrive within four of their Earth days."

"Which you shouldn't have done to begin with."

"They probably needed time to find the Steven." Peridot argued. "It was better to inform them."

"So say we were talking about Home World days!" Jasper huffed.

"Days on Home World are longer than days on Earth." Perdiot said. "You'd think a veteran of their wars would actually _know_ something like that."

Jasper had been itching for a fight since she stepped foot on the warship. She picked up the scrawny gem by her pathetic excuse for fingers, and shoved a fist underneath her chin. Peridot squeaked in surprise, and tried to get away from her.

"Wanna' repeat that you brat?"

Peridot quickly shook her head. Jasper drop-kicked the gem. Peridot gasped in pain once again, clutching at her torso. It seemed like that was the only real part of her body, thus the only one that she could feel physical pain in. Jasper gave her an extra kick in the chest for extra measure, and then rested her foot on top of her. The gem tried to stand, but knew it was hopeless. The only thing more pathetic than her limbs was how easily she gave up.

"I've fought in wars that were _longer_ than your poor excuse for a life!" She snarled. "I've smashed gem species into _extinction!_ Do you think I care about trivia on some deserted ball of mud?"

Gasping in pain, the gem shook her head repeatedly. Jasper eventually let Peridot get to her feet once again. The gem hobbled over to the computer, and sat down. She reached to feel her torso, but stopped when she remembered that she had a job to be doing, and that pain was not supposed to stop her from functioning. After that, the last thing Peridot wanted was to go through that entire situation again. She'd really rather worry about any damage done to her body later.

"I-I suppose we could speed up our proceedings."

"Good enough."

"Should we warn them of this change?"

The gem broke out into a malicious, toothy grin.

"No. We'll let it be a _surprise."_

Suddenly, the soreness in her chest seemed a lot less painful. At least, when she compared it to the pain that the gems of Earth would soon be subjected to.

With less than a day to prepare, the Crystal Gems would be in for a lot of trouble.


	30. The Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter clears 9,000 words.

Vidalia was staring at the ceiling in her bedroom. After a long day, she had only just gotten the chance to rest. Greg and Steven had gone to the doctor's for something. Greg had seemed too annoyed to specify what for though. Whatever had made him enraged was probably must have been awful. It took a lot to make him angry. That was only a part of what had happened that day. Adult responsibilities, worrying, more worrying, it never seemed to end. But now that she had gotten to bed, she didn't want to sleep anymore.

It was dark outside, but the room was illuminated with the occasional flash of lightning. Not that there was much to see outside. The sky was an on oddly greenish colour though. Vidalia wondered if it was the warning signs of a tornado. The thunder seemed to grow ever closer. She wrapped the duvet even closer around her. She didn't want to think about Yellow Tail out on the ocean during this storm. Hopefully he and the fishing crew had found somewhere to dock for the night.

The woman tried to focus on sleeping, but found that she was having trouble with doing that. She thought back to what she and Greg had learned, the message, the people- gems that would be coming in search of Steven. They had both agreed to get out of Beach City with Steven once they arrived, but she was unsure of what was going to happen after that. Amethyst would be staying. Neither she nor Greg knew about gem stuff. It would be hard without her friend there to help explain things.

Vidalia didn't like worrying. She really wasn't a fan of it. But the more she thought about Steven and Amethyst, the more worried she began to feel. These, gems, from Steven's planet would be arriving in a little less than a day. Should they be packing up their things? Should the town be warned of what was to come? It was hard to lay in bed when it seemed like the whole world was coming to an end. She felt like she should get up, be doing something to help. But what could she do?

That was when she heard the first scream.

It was followed by a second, and a third. The terror in them seemed to grow with each tiny, frightened cry. She heard a pair of feet running towards her room. Vidalia recognized them as Steven's. She sat up in bed, and was about to put her slippers on when Steven opened the door and ran into the room. He jumped on to her bed and cried;

"They're here!"

"I- what?" She yawned. "Who's here?"

"The Home World! They're here for me!"

Steven ran out of the room before she could ask him any more questions. Vidalia sprung out of bed and chased after him. She could hear the boy running down the stairs, and then the front door opening, before it was slammed shut. Leaping down the stairs, she tried to follow after him. But when she stepped outside, the woman ran head-first into someone. Groaning, she stood up and rubbed her forehead.

She realized that it was Greg. He bent over to pick up a stack of papers that he had been carrying before. He seemed to be panicking as well, and looked like he was having trouble breathing. Greg's hands were trembling, as if he were freezing cold. His eyes were wide open, shocked by something or someone. Vidalia gave the man's shoulders a slight shake, trying to get him to do something other than look horrified. He finally saw that she was standing there with him.

"S-Steven- P-paternity t-t-t-est-"

"What is it?"

"Positive!" He wailed.

Vidalia _really_ wanted to understand what Greg was babbling about, but she didn't have the time to figure out what he was saying. Steven was missing, and she was only now beginning to realize that there was no thunderstorm outside. The ground was bone-dry. In fact, the sky was completely devoid of clouds. It was clear! All except for an object on the horizon. The emerald-green colour that the sky had turned seemed to be coming from the thing, the _hand_ , she realized, that was floating towards Beach City. It looked like it was pointing right at them.

A chill ran down her spine. It may have just been a hand, but there was something creepy about it, alien. She could easily believe that it was not something of this world. Somehow, the hand was even worse than the eye, that giant red eye thing that had shown up so long ago. It didn't just feel like they were being watched, it felt like they were being pointed at, accused of some kind of fictitious crime.

"It's happening." She whispered. "Greg! Did you see where Steven went?!"

"S-Steven- he's m-my, he's-"

Greg's eyes rolled up into the back of his head, and he fainted.

"Greg! Don't do that _now_!"

Slapping his face, Vidalia tried to wake him up. When that didn't work, she ran to the garage and got the hose. Turning on the water and setting the nozzle to the jet setting, she sprayed Greg in the face. The cold water was enough to wake him. Coughing and spitting, the man sat up and rubbed his head. He was shivering, even though the night air was warm. He wrapped his arms around himself, a small, seemingly pathetic gesture as he tried to comfort himself.

"T-they stole my DNA! B-but I never thought-"

"Greg, where's Steven?" She interrupted.

Greg immediately stopped his irrational mutterings. He went dead silent, trying to think about what she had just asked him.

"I don't know." He whispered. "We need to find him!"

"That's what I've been trying to say!"

"He doesn't even know that I'm his dad!"

Vidalia made the connection to what he was saying. They had gone to the doctor's to get a paternity test. Beach City thought they were related, and Greg went to prove them wrong. Only to find out... Vidalia didn't know how this kind of thing worked, or how it was even possible for that matter. But what she did know was that they had to find Steven before the creeps from his home planet arrived and tried to take him away.

But, her sons...

Vidalia ran back inside and up the stairs. She ignored the many keep out signs on Sour Cream's door and entered. She shook her son awake, pulling off his blankets and grabbing his pillow. Vidialia then ran to Onion's room. He was already awake, staring at the strange sight outside. The woman picked up her son and quickly got him into a sweater and shoes. Then she carried him back to his brother's room.

Sour Cream was still attempting to sleep, even with his covers and pillows missing. Switching on all the lights, she tried to get him to wake up faster. They flickered uneasily, almost as if they were reluctant to stay on. Sour Cream was still grumbling and telling her to go away. But Vidalia opened the shades to his window and pointed to the thing in the sky. When he saw what she was pointing to, he stopped.

"What is that?" Sour Cream asked, squinting at the ship.

"It doesn't matter!" Vidalia handed her car keys and Onion to Sour Cream. "Take Onion and get out of Beach City!"

She grabbed a sweater and slung it over the teen's shoulder. She took out her wallet and placed it in his pajama pants pocket, along with his cell phone and charger. Sour Cream was still disoriented, trying to understand what was going on and why his mom was in such a panic.

"But Mom-"

"GO!"

Taken aback by her yelling, he mutely nodded, running downstairs with Onion. Vidalia heard the car engine rev, and she watched Sour Cream back out of the driveway before speeding off into the distance. Sniffling, the woman wiped away a tear. She didn't realize how crazy things would be until they happened. Taking a long breath, she regained her composure. After all, she still had to find Steven.

* * *

The confusion and noise was spreading everywhere across Beach City. The ship was breaking the sound barrier as it traveled closer towards them. With one loud crash, cracks snaked through the road and along the sidewalk. The boardwalk collapsed in the distance, taking down the entire pier and Fun Land with it. There was another deafening boom, and another.

The power went out, and so he was running in the greenish dark of the night with no way to tell what was going on. Soon, glass started to break. Windows sprayed glass everywhere, and the street lights rained shards from above. He could feel them landing in his hair, and crunching feebly underneath his feet. The sound made Steven think about what it was like to crush a gem. He wondered if it sounded similar to the glass breaking.

The sounds of yelling and crying overpowered the sound of the glass breaking though. He could hear people coming out of their houses, going into the streets and talking. Once or twice, he stumbled into someone who was standing in the dark, watching the odd phenomenon in the sky above. Some people got into their cars and started to drive away, ignoring the glass on the streets and in the seats of their vehicles. There were people packing things, toting children, trying to get away from the town. Steven saw the mayor's election vehicle nearly run over a family as he drove past them. The normal slogan that played had been changed to something much more ominous.

" _E-VAC-U-ATE! E-VAC-U-ATE!_ "

Through the pandemonium that started, he began to remember all the things he had learned about war over the years. The chaos, the screaming. Most gems said that they loved it, that they would go through it a million times more if they could. It wasn't until he met Apatite that he realized how horrible it really was, how badly something like this effected a gem. He figured that it would be no different with people. They were yelling at each other and crying, trying to bark out orders at each other while running around at the same time. Beach City had turned into a warzone within minutes. How long would it take the rest of the world?

Someone grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Have you seen my wife?"

He dumbly shook his head and kept running past the person. More and more people tried to stop him, asking for help, asking what they should do, or just trying to stop him from getting closer to the green menace in the sky. He could hear other snippets of conversations as he ran past different people.

"IT'S THE DIAMOND AUTHORITY!" One man yelled. "I NEED TO GET A PICTURE OF THIS FOR MY BLOG!"

"Ronaldo! Now's not the time-"

"Have you seen my son? His name is Steven and he's-"

"Steven! Come back!"

Above some of the people in the crowd, Steven could hear his name being called. Steven ran towards the beach, ignoring the worried voices calling his name. They didn't matter anymore. Human lives were short. They would die soon enough, and forget all about him. It didn't matter. Nothing on this planet did now that the Home World had arrived. Within a short amount of time, they would be gone, there would be nothing left of the Earth.

A burning sensation began in his lungs. It spread to his legs and his arms as he ran farther. It stung horribly. It felt like he had swallowed a mouthful of salt water and it was slowly starting to sear all of his insides. It didn't feel hot, like fire though. It felt more acidic, like the few times he had been burned by Apatite's corrosive saliva. Not that this made it feel any better. Everything was falling apart. He felt like he was dissolving. He paid no attention the feeling, but it couldn't last for long. By the time he reached the remains of the boardwalk, he was gasping for air, and there was a stitch in his stomach. He tried to move onwards, but his steps became clumsy, and the world started to spin around him.

Just as he was about to fall over and loose the contents of his stomach, something supported him. Something soft, and strangely-warm. When the world stopped spinning, Steven realized he was staring into the silent, serious eyes of Lion. He backed away from the lion in surprise.

"Where have you even been?"

Lion made a slight growling noise. Steven didn't know how he was supposed to interpret that though.

"What does that even mean?! You were gone for a month Lion!"

Lion didn't say anything.

"What are you even doing back here?" He grumbled. "You're free, you don't have to listen to anyone."

Remembering that he really didn't have time for this, Steven started a walk again. It hurt, and little stars started to show before his vision. But he paid no mind to that. He had to find Amethyst and the other Crystal Gems. They had their plans for when the Home World arrived, and he had his own. But they'd still have to be together for when their paths met. It probably wouldn't be long before the Home World arrived. Maybe ten minutes at the most.

Lion nudged his hand, and made a soft noise.

"Being cute is not going to make me any less mad! You left me Lion!"

This time, Lion roared. He opened a portal. If there was one thing Steven had learned from the weird, pink animal, it was that he seemed to know what he was doing most of the time. He didn't hesitate to step through. The ride was an unpleasant, kaleidoscopic mess of shapes and colours, not unlike that of the warp pad. Steven closed his eyes and willed himself not to be sick. When the dizzying ride ended, Steven was standing just outside of the temple.

The Crystal Gems were already outside. Pearl was staring through a telescope, while Amethyst nervously paced around Garnet.

"Guys!"

The gems gasped, not expecting to see Steven suddenly appear from behind them.

"Steven! What are you doing here?"

"Get out!"

"What? Why?"

Amethyst pointed to the ship in the sky.

"That's why! Get out of here man!"

"No! It's me they're after! They might leave you guys alone if I go!"

"Absolutely not! No way!" Amethyst said, grabbing his arm. "I don't know where Greg and Vidalia are, but-"

"There he is!"

With all the glass in Greg's van now broken, it was not difficult to hear Greg and Vidalia yelling at Steven. They drove up. Vidalia jumped through the gaping hole where the windshield once was and slid off the hood of the car. She ran towards Steven, with Greg not following far behind. His arms were filled with papers for some reason, and he was struggling between wanting to carry all of them, and wanting to run to Steven so he could yell at the boy as well.

"What, is everyone who's _not_ supposed to be here showing up now?" Amethyst asked.

"He ran off!" Vidalia defended. "We couldn't find him!"

"It doesn't matter!" Garnet said. "You three need to go, now!"

"You can't make me!" Steven yelled back.

"Actually, it's not that difficult Kiddo."

Vidalia picked Steven up, she and Greg started to walk back to the van. For a moment, it seemed like all of their problems had been solved. At least, the Steven-related ones. The ship had grown larger in the sky, much too close for comfort. It was starting to stir up the sand around them, creating a small, stinging storm of pebbles. The ocean waves grew larger as the wind pushed them father on to the beach. The gems had to move back to avoid being swept away. The telescope was not so lucky though. and was sent out to sea before being pulled under.

The Steven-related problems began before they could get to the van. Hissing in pain, Vidalia grabbed her hand. Red marks were starting to show, and blood was starting to well up from them. Sand got stuck in the blood. It stung, so she tried to put her hand in her pocket. This was a mistake. Because of this, she dropped Steven. Right away, the boy started to run back towards the beach.

"He bit me!"

The gems tried to run after Steven, but a gust of wind nearly knocked them over. Vidalia and Greg were much less prepared for this than the gems, and were sent flying backwards. Even the van started to slide across the beach as the sand started to give away from beneath it. For a moment, all of them were blinded by the sand in their eyes, and deafened by the sound of the ship landing. They all fought to scrub sand out of their eyes so they could see.

Then, the noise ended. The screaming, frightened voices coming from Beach City were gone. The entire town had already evacuated, leaving nothing but the wreckage behind them. The waves were no longer crashing upon the beach, and had become almost as still at the gems. The beach looked like a storm had passed through it. Dead and dying fish lay scattered amongst glistening wet seaweed and pebbles. The sand had been smoothed over by the ocean. The ship now rested on the beach, palm outstretched towards them. Even as it lay flat, the ship towered above the gems, like some terrible, emerald-green monster.

The arrival of it shocked them all into an ominous silence. Then, they remembered who was standing closest to the fingertips of the ship. Without a moment's hesitation, the gems all charged towards Steven. He had been expecting this though, and he formed a bubble around himself. Amethyst went flying over the bubble and into the sand. Pearl smacked face-first into it, and landed in the other direction. Only Garnet had the foresight to stop before it was too late. Pounding a fist on the top of the bubble, she demanded;

"Get out of there!"

"No! You can't tell me what to do! No one's the boss of me except for myself!"

Garnet realized something that her teammates didn't. She lifted her glasses, so she could focus all of her eyes on Steven. He stared back at her, even as he sensed the presence of other gems from behind him. It was weird to stare at her. Her didn't know which of his eyes he was supposed to be focusing on. Doing it made him feel oddly transparent, like she knew something about him that he was trying to keep secret. Steven remembered that she had future vision. She knew what he was planning to do. Or, at least she had figured it out by now. Either way, it still caused her back off.

"That's them, all right." A distant voice said. "They're the ones who keep breaking my machines!"

"This is it?"

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!"

"Looks like another waste of my time."

Steven felt his palms grow sweaty. He didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to follow through with his plan all of a sudden. He just wanted to hide behind the gems and let them take the blows for him. But that wouldn't work. He had done a lot of thinking and knew that anyone sent to get him would be more than willing to hurt himself, and the others. He needed to do this though. More people were going to get hurt if he didn't.

_"You're more than just a gem..."_

Suddenly, he didn't feel so alone or afraid. The boy felt a small spark of courage return to him. He could do this. It was possible. He had learned a lot while on Earth, and he was ready for anything thrown at him. Especially now that he knew the trick was to send it on the rebound, rather than trying to match their force. With those final bits of encouragement, he straightened his posture, dismissed the bubble, and turned to face what the Home World had sent.

… A single gem? This was all that they had sent to recover him? Perhaps there were more gems on the ship, and they would only use that much force if necessary. There was a lone jasper, standing next to a peridot that was presumably the same one from before. In Jasper's hand was Lapis. His stomach did a flip-flop when he saw his friend. She stared at him with wide eyes, trying to signal something to him. It wasn't hard to get the message. Do as he was told, and they would all get off easy for anything that went wrong. He had already been planning to do more than he was told, it wasn't that hard of a decision for him to make.

Without wasting a moment, he took the largest inhale of air imaginable and cried;

"YOU CAME TO RESCUE ME!"

Everyone was taken by surprise when he ran towards the Home World gems. He grabbed on to the- Jasper, he had to refer to her as Jasper, and held on to her leg. Jasper was just as confused as the other gems, she shook her leg, trying to understand what he was doing to her. Was this some form of attacking others?

"What are you doing?! Let go of me!"

Like the good, authority-respecting gem he was supposed to be, he let go of her leg and gave a tiny salute. Jasper curiously poked his chest and inspected his hair.

"Yes, it certainly looks like him." She mumbled. "We'll have to check with Yellow Diamond to be sure."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great." Peridot replied. "Can we go now?"

"What are you doing?" Amethyst hissed.

Now came the hard part. If there was one thing he had learned from Dog-Copter, it was that villains gave long, dramatic speeches about their motivations. If this was going to work, he'd have to cut all ties with the gems and humans he had come to know on Earth. It was thr only way to stop them from getting killed. It was the only way to prevent the Home World from realizing that his allegiances had changed.

Steven had spent a long time thinking about what to say to the gems. Not all of it recently. Months and months of being kept prisoner, and hunted down made it easy enough for him to muster up all of the things he had wanted to tell them over that time. He never really had, especially since he and Amethyst had been on the way to becoming friends again. And, not all of was really true anymore. He couldn't even think of any complaints against Greg and Vidalia. He had to make up a somewhat believable story to tell the Home World. Not that any of them knew that.

The sooner he got this done, the sooner the nightmare would end. He tried to ignore the guilt that he was starting to feel and asked;

"Permission to speak?"

Jasper looked honestly surprised by the question. She had not expected anything of the sort from him. Although, it was good to see that some gems still knew their place. Not like that insufferable Peridot that she had been teamed up with. No one on the beach could deny that they didn't want to hear what he had to say. She nodded.

"I'm getting as far away from all of you as possible."

"Steven?"

"Did you actually think I told the truth? Do you actually think I would want to be friends with you? I hate you and this planet and all of the stupid things on it! I lied to get you off my backs, so I could get back home! I might've not been a threat after a while, but not until you seemed to think that I wanted to desert the Home World!"

"I thought you didn't hate anyone." Pearl mumbled.

Garnet gave her a subtle nudge. Pearl caught on to what Steven was doing as well. She schooled her expression into one of anger rather than confusion. The others however, didn't catch on to what Steven was doing. They all stood there surprised, unable to speak at all. Vidalia was still cradling her injured hand, blood still dripping from it. Greg had dropped all the papers he was holding, and his eyes were beginning to water.

"Y-you don't even like us? After all we've done?"

"You two treated me like a kid!"

"You _are_ a kid! You're my k-"

He pointed to Amethyst.

"And _you_ went back to being friends with _them_ right after everything that happened! You seemed a little salvagable at first, but it turns out you're dumb! You're all dumb if you think I'd just get over everything you did to me as if it was nothing! You actually thought that I cared about this planet, and never even realized the truth!"

No one said anything. Then, Vidilia started to sob. Greg did as well, losing what few papers he had left. Steven began to feel sick to his stomach, he closed his eyes and steeled himself. Now was not the time to go soft. It could ruin everything if he came off as traitorous to the Home World. That did nothing to stop him from wishing that he could tell Amethyst, Vidalia and Greg what was going on.

Jasper laughed, and ruffled his hair.

"Ha! Outsmarted by a kid!" She chuckled. "I don't suppose you happened to find the Rose Quartz at all?"

"What?"

"You know, the missing half lost in the war? They didn't tell you?"

"No Ma'am."

"I was there you know. At the first war for this garbage planet. One of our sister troops sliced straight through her gem! The cut was so clean that it didn't even crack! Of course-"

"That's enough!" Garnet said. "You need to leave immediately!"

"This is not a gem controlled planet!" Pearl added.

"Yeah, step off!"

"Aw, how _cute_! Do any of you seriously think you can beat me?"

The gems took up fighting stances, it was enough to answer her question. From behind Jasper's leg, he stuck his tongue out at the gems.

"Yeah! What are you doing to do about it?!" He taunted. "Clearly fighting has gotten you where you are now!"

" _Rrr_! Shut _**up**_ you traitor!"

Amethyst charged towards them, wielding a weapon in either hand. Jasper's smile could grow no larger when she saw this. It seemed twisted, almost carnivorous. Steven inwardly shuddered in disgust, not wanting to think of the gem's blood-lust. He stepped back slightly, hoping that she wouldn't notice the gesture. It didn't matter though. Jasper ran to meet Amethyst head-on. She summoned her own weapon, a large, orange crash helmet. Even with all of her practising, Amethyst was no match for the larger gem. Before she could even land a hit, Jasper had stuck her in the chest with a destaibilizer.

Steven looked away when he heard the familiar sound of electricity crackling. It made his hair stand on end, even though he was not the one being attacked that night. The group gave startled gasps. Pearl ran forwards to grab Amethyst, but she was destabilized as well. This, Steven couldn't avoid seeing. Jagged, yellow lines ran through her body, and Pearl seemed to freeze up. Her eyes were still wide with pain, and she was reaching for the spot where she had been stabbed. Then, she poofed, the sand billowing out around her. Then, it was Garnet's turn to take on Jasper. Before they fought, she commanded;

"Greg! Vidalia! Run!"

Weakly getting to their feet, they both hobbled back towards Greg's van. This did not go unnoticed by the others.

"Should we do something about that?" Peridot asked.

"Don't bother." She growled. "Take these two back to the ship."

Rolling her eyes, Peridot did as she was told. He picked up the two gemstones and started to walk. It went without saying they had no choice but to follow. Steven and Lapis silently walked back on to the warship. He tried not to look behind him, to see what was going on between the two other gems. Steven really didn't want to, especially after everything he had just said. Amethyst didn't know the truth. She probably hated him now. It was going to be horrible explaining everything to her, Vidalia, and Greg all over again. Guilt overwhelmed the fear of messing up the act. He didn't want to think about how devastated they had been, or how mad Amethyst had been after he had taunted her.

There was a small escort pod waiting for them near the tip of the hand. The entered, and within moments, were in one of the ship's halls. There were cells lining along the green innards of the ship. The jade-tinted metal clashed horribly with Peridot's own colour scheme. Peridot tossed Amethyst's gem into one cell, and Pearl's in the one next to it. She pressed a button on the wall, and a sickly yellow field of energy formed between the hall and the cells. Then, Peridot continued on her way to some cells that were placed farther away from the ones where they had arrived. She gave Lapis a shove and instructed;

"Get in."

Without a word, Lapis did as she was told. His friend immediately sat down, keeping her back towards him. What was wrong with her? Why wasn't she saying anything to him? Lapis wasn't mad about what he had said earlier, was she? She would have realized that he didn't mean any of that, right? They were friends! He couldn't loose another friend, not after everything that he had been through. He would not have another repeat of Pyrite or Apatite! Even if he hadn't really cared about her feelings, Steven still would have stood up for her.

"Wait, what?" Steven asked. "Lapis is a _good_ guy! She doesn't need to be kept prisoner!"

"It's standard protocol." Peridot informed him. "Guilty until proven innocent."

"But she _is_ innocent."

"We'll see."

"What do you mean _we'll_ _see_?" He asked. "I know what I'm talking about!"

" _We'll_ is a contraction of _we_ _will."_ Peridot explained. "And _see_ is synonymous with-"

Before he could snap at Peridot, the sound of foot steps vibrated through the floor. Jasper appeared from another hall, cape billowing behind her. Now that they were no longer bathed in the green light the ship gave off, Steven could see more of the massive gem. Her uniform was orange, and she had a large, maroon cape on. Probably some kind of status symbol that she had chosen to wear. She had cream-coloured hair, not unlike Apatite's. Only her's seemed much more orange than his lost friend's. Standing in the low hallways, she appeared to be even larger and more muscly than he had originally thought. She was the perfect description of a real, proper gem warrior.

"Why aren't you on the bridge?"

"I had to lock away the other gems." Peridot said.

Jasper started at her incredulously.

" _Yellow_ _Diamond_ is waiting for him, and you took the time to _lock_ _up_ the other gems?!"

Steven felt like he had taken a dip into the freezing cold ocean. When he heard this, he started to freeze up. He didn't know how he was supposed to act. All of his rational thought seemed to stop. But then, it all slowly started again, and his mind was swamped with questions and worries about what he had just heard. He couldn't think, he couldn't tell how he was supposed to react, knowing what he now did. He had to lie to his superior? And make it seem believable?! He was dead! They were all dead!

"The regulations state-"

"Forget this! I'll take him there myself!"

He numbly tailed after the hot-headed gem. Peridot followed behind, quoting rules to them. The whiny sound of her voice became a mere buzzing in Steven's ear. It reverberated off the hexagonal halls until it no longer sounded like a voice. It sounded almost like wailing, the wailing stone. The message they had received only days before. The group came to a control room. There was a large windshield that provided a panorama of the outside world. Not that there was much to see. The green glow of the ship cast a ghostly glow across the beach. The temple looked tired and ancient when illuminated in the light of the newer gem technology.

The control room was rather simple. There was a chair for a gem to sit in, and a control board. But he certainly didn't see anyone else in the room with him. Other than Peridot and Jasper. They stood at attention on either side of the doorway, and were staring straight ahead, at the windshield. Both looked like they were trying to keep themselves looking dignified and proper after their fights on the beach and in the ship. Steven however, looked around. He twisted to see the gems, and then the glass where nothing was happening. Finally, he worked up the nerve to ask;

"Where is she?"

"We were told to expect a video transmission." Peridot said.

_"Be_ called or call _them?"_ Steven asked.

"Uh, as if I would _forget_ what I was programmed to do." She sneered. "I can't just _call_ her office, I don't have that kind of clearance."

"You did get this humongous warship." Steven said. "And permission to use force."

"Excessive force. You have to get written permission from Yellow Diamond to use what is termed as excessive-" Peridot stopped when she realized that Steven had proven himself right.

The glass on the windshield clouded over with static, and white noise began to play. Steven felt his heart speed up, and his thoughts race through his mind before he could even understand what they meant. He was doomed. They were all doomed. He was going to die, everyone was going to perish. Amethyst and the others were all going to die thinking that he hated them all along. He'd never get the chance to put his plan into action, after all that he had done. Connie would never know where he went. He had never even gotten the chance to say bye to his friend. Steven now wished that he had simply come clean and told her everything.

No image appeared on the screen. The crackling static from the speakers stopped though, and the voice on it became more clear. It sounded so tiny, like it was a million light-years away from where he was now. As a matter of fact it was. This must have explained why the reception was so lousy, and why no image was able to form on the screen. Even their technology had it's limits. Suddenly, the prospect of just talking didn't seem so bad. She wouldn't be able to tell that he was lying through body language, and just listening to his voice might make it hard for her to see the fibs. Hope rose in his chest at the thought. He might be able to pull this off then.

"-are you there? Do you read me?"

"I'm here Ma'am!"

"What lesson were you supposed to be attending before you vanished?"

A tiny part of him wanted to snap back at the patronizing question. But he didn't.

"I was supposed to go to the battlefield for practice. I tried to leave before the rush hour, but no one was listening to me! And then the only warp pad available was that old one that no one ever uses! I tried not to be late, I'm really sorry that I-"

"That's enough Steven. I merely wanted to make sure you were the real one."

"Oh."

"How many gems are on the ship?"

"Crystal Gems?" He asked.

"All gems."

_Lie number one._

"Jasper and Peridot are here. But I'm not sure if we got all the Crystal Gems."

"How many Crystal Gems are there?"

_Lie number two._

"I'm not sure. I never stuck around long enough to find out."

"How many gems are on the ship now?" Yellow Diamond asked once again.

"Four bad guys, Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis. Speaking of which-"

"It's standard protocol!"

As soon as Peridot had yelled this, she covered her mouth in shock. Jasper just rolled her eyes, unable to believe the stupidity of one gem.

"Who said that?"

"Peridot."

"She's piloting the ship?"

"Er, she and Jasper are just standing there."

"Tell them to leave! This is a _private_ conversation!"

They had left the room before Steven could even tell them that they were supposed to go.

"They're gone now." He said. "Well, like I was saying, Lapis isn't a bad guy. She's just been trapped on Earth for a long time, like me."

"I'm aware of the story Steven. But the rules are the rules."

There was something oddly insistent about the way she said this. Steven continued to push his luck, hoping that she would not realize something was off.

"But, she helped me!"

"She also nearly killed you, and left you alone on Earth. That makes her a criminal"

Suddenly, he realized that Yellow Diamond wasn't going to listen to anything he said. She was merely humouring him on the conversation. She was determined to have her tried as a criminal, for whatever reason that might have been. It was oddly sad to come to this realization. He had never noticed how really controlling she was over everything he did. And all because she was his mentor. It wasn't as if he wanted her to teach him, he had never agreed to this! Noticing how much he truly disliked the gem made him all the more determined to get this call over with.

_Lie number three._

"I understand. What should I do until we arrive?"

"Practice your warrior face."

_Lie number four._

"Yes Ma'am. I will!"

Steven couldn't keep the confusion out of his voice. It was truly the oddest command that he had ever been given. Luckily, she seemed to be willing to explain to him.

"Very few were ever aware of your disappearance to begin with. We're going to tell the general public that you were on a secret mission instead, and have captured several gems. They'll be put on a war crimes trial, you testifying against them of course, and-"

The signal faded, as did the demanding voice. Steven felt momentarily relieved, glad that he had not heard the rest of what she was trying to tell him. Those plans all sounded awful. They were actually trying to turn his experiences into something positive. She had not even asked if he was alright, unharmed. There was no doubt in his mind that Yellow Diamond did not care for him in the slightest. He was merely being used. Why, he didn't know. But there was no way he would ever stand for something like that. Eventually, the signal returned, just as she finished what she was saying.

"I understand."

"Good. Now, make sure that you do not bring up your... Other half in front of the gems on this ship. Jasper is rather... Inflexible in her thinking."

"What about Peridot?"

She snorted at the question.

"Aware, but completely oblivious to the information. She's more focused on the kindergarten than what she's _supposed_ to be doing. She seems rather unwell, and will be dealt with once we return."

"I understand. Will that be all?"

"No, actually, I want you to inform the others that they arrived a day earlier than expected. I'm interested to know how that happened. Especially since it is strictly prohibited to travel faster than-"

The transmission wavered again.

"-do the Home World proud."

"I will."

The call ended.

"...Not."


	31. Jailbreak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some mild gore near the end of this chapter. It starts at the line "No ammount of prying..." and ends at the line "the Crystal Gems to see."
> 
> I had to do math to write this chapter. It was awful. But for anyone who's curious, the ISS takes 92 minutes to orbit around the Earth. There are 1,440 minutes in a day. 1,440/92 is 15.652173913, which can be rounded up to 16. Thus, it makes 16 orbits in a day. If an object in this story orbited around the Earth at the exact same rate and on the same path for a day, it would do so 16 times.
> 
> A blow torch burns at 1,600°C and sand composed of mainly quartz turned into glass is around 1,700°C.
> 
> These both have relevance to about one sentence each in the chapter, and never will again in the story. But I didn't want to pull numbers out of nowhere. 
> 
> I guess I should mention that this is the longest chapter in the story, and I wrote it in a single six-hour sitting (I promise the math didn't take up most of that time.) You don't want to know how much editing this went through either... But... Who cares?
> 
> Read, review, and enjoy!

Amethyst's yelling only stopped when a wave of turbulence rocked the ship. Or maybe, she couldn't hear her screams over the sound of them taking off. Pearl wasn't really sure. She could feel vibrations through the floor. Every time Amethyst punched the wall, she could feel that as well. Pearl had long since stopped listening to what Amethyst was saying. She had been cursing Steven at first. Then she started to blame herself for trusting him.

After a while, she said little more than the occasional curse word between her snarls. Pearl wondered if Amethyst was trying to break out of the cell, or merely trying to vent her frustration at the wall. She couldn't see her teammate, but she could hear her. Pearl didn't dare say anything to her. The ship was no doubt lined with listening devices. It was much too risky to tell her anything. For now, she would just have to remain mad.

Although, she did wonder why Amethyst had not picked up on what Steven was doing, when both she and Garnet had. Now there was no way to tell her what was going on without giving away Steven's position. Pearl didn't have to think long to come up with a reason. The first war started out the same way. With Rose pretending that she was on the Home World's side, taking all the resources that she could before revealing the truth to everyone. Interesting that Steven would do the same thing, sinister almost...

Pearl picked up the sound of new voices, two of them. They were both too high to belong to Jasper. She was glad for that. Amethyst had sounded like she was foaming at the mouth when the gem last walked past them, challenging her for a rematch. Jasper hadn't taken her up on that offer. Pearl wasn't sure if Amethyst would wind up sp lucky as they had this time. But at least they were still alive. That was a lot more than she could have possibly hoped for. Steven and Peridot drew closer, and she was able to hear what they were saying.

"So, how long until we reach Home World?" Steven asked.

"It depends." Peridot replied. "The ship's batteries were drained when we went above the speed limit. We'll have to orbit around the Earth around sixteen times before they will be recharged again."

Pearl tried not to look startled at the revelation. This was important. They still hadn't left the Earth yet, that meant there was still time to escape. Peridot and Steven walked past her cell, and stopped by Amethyst's. There was a sharp crack, and she heard Amethyst hiss in pain. There was another crack, as Amethyst tried to get through the destabilization field. Pearl quietly wished that her teammate would finally realize what was going on somehow. But it didn't seem like it was going to happen any time soon. There was a third crackle of electricity. Only this time, Amethyst yelled;

"TRAITOR!"

Pearl was able to see that Steven jumped in surprise. He backed away from the cell that Amethyst was in.

"WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE YOU'RE DEAD!"

She heard Amethyst make another attempt to get out of the cell. When it didn't work, she snarled in frustration. There was a loud bang, presumably Amethyst hitting the wall again. She saw Steven flinch slightly. While Peridot told Amethyst to be quiet, Steven widened his eyes, and made a slight gesture. She nodded, silently telling him that she had gotten the message. Steven turned back to Peridot and said;

"How come you don't need to pilot the ship right now?"

"So long as we're in orbit around a planet, I don't have to be at the controls. The ship's computer system can handle it for me."

"Wow!" He said, dramatically raising his voice. "I wish I knew as much as _you_ did about technology!"

Peridot seemed oblivious to the blatant flattering that Steven was trying to use on her, and took the compliment sincerely.

"Of course I know more than you. I'm a certified kindergartener." She sniffed. "You're just the Steven that belongs to Yellow Diamond."

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm turning up the destabilization field's power." She said. "And sound-proofing her cell."

"And all you have to do is enter that three-didgit code into the hidden panel that opens when you pull on it next to the door?"

Pearl was amazed that Peridot had not picked up on what Steven was doing at this point. She was right there, sitting a cell next to Amethyst. She could hear what they were saying loud and clear. Obviously this, Peridot, wasn't well known for her critical thinking skills. Or basic social skills. She couldn't even tell what was going on right before her. Pearl almost found it funny, but the circumstances of the situation were not. Besides, laughing might cause some complications.

* * *

"What do you mean the ship's batteries are drained?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like." Peridot sighed. "That's what happens when you don't follow the regu-"

"SHUT UP!"

Squeaking, the gem stopped talking. She hadn't forgotten what happened the last time she had pushed Jasper too far. Peridot did not want to get on her bad side yet again. The trouble was that all of Jasper's sides seemed to be bad. Only the Steven seemed to garner any favor with her. Peridot was unsure as to why that could possibly be. Perhaps great morons thought alike. That was the only way she could explain why Jasper seemed to like him so much.

They were in the atrium of the ship, where all of the halls of the ship converged. The ceiling was transparent, revealing the view of the Earth and outer space around it. The Earth's sun was starting to peek out from around the side of the green and blue planet. Below them, the ship's power source was located. It was possible to feel it buzzing through the floor, and a slight humming sound echoed throughout the entire ship.

"We need to make a good impression on him!" Jasper said. "If we run late, he'll tell Yellow Diamond that we're both incomptent!"

Jasper had a point. This Steven was the very same that belonged to Yellow Diamond. No doubt he would inform her of everything that happened on their journey back. That didn't have to be a bad thing though. Perhaps if they gave him a good impression, she- they, would both be able to receive some kind of recognition. The promotion that she had long been waiting for all these years. This could be their chance. So long as they didn't mess things up. That would be rather hard, considering that they would have to wait until the ship's batteries were fully functioning once again.

"Where is he now?" She asked.

"The barracks."

A plan started to form. Peridot subconsciously knew a great deal about the Steven, much more than Jasper. She knew how he thought, his personality and it's flaws, along with other intricate details about his physical form. The Steven was a very young gem, and didn't have that large of an attention span. Most young gems didn't. The Steven had less expectations when compared to older gems as well. If they used these issues against him, they would be able to solve their problems for the time being.

"The Steven is easily distracted and interested by small things." Peridot mused. "So long as something holds his attention, he will never realize any of the problems surrounding him."

"What does that mean?"

Peridot sighed.

"Just keep him busy until the ship has regained full power!"

* * *

He had never thought he would miss the cell he lived in while on Earth. But when compared to the room he was in now, he would have taken it. The "room" he was in seemed like more of a cell than the actual cell was. Before he had enough space to move around, and his own bed. Before, he had a sink and a small washroom. Before, he could at least walk without coming face-to-face with the door. This place, this room was the exact opposite of that.

In fact, Steven was certain that it was even smaller than the cells he had seen on the ship. The only difference with this room was that there was no force field waiting to destabilize him should he try to escape. But the walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same, cold, green metal. He wouldn't have been able to tell which way was up and which was down if not for the door that was inches away from his face. There wasn't even a window for him to look out of.

The space did have one thing in common with the cell that had housed him before though. It had no heating whatsoever. He was freezing. Steven had gotten rid of his human clothes not long after he had boarded the ship. Wearing them would just bring up more questions, especially since there was no need for him to blend in with the life on Earth anymore. He remembered how to summon his uniform, a task much easier than getting his weapon. While in uniform, he may as well have been wearing little more than his skin. It was a lot different in texture when compared to human clothes, almost a part of his actual body. That meant it wasn't very warm.

The only thing there was in the room was a chair. So gems could rest he supposed. Since gems weren't supposed to sleep to begin with, there was no reason for there to be a bed. Steven would have liked to sleep, but he didn't want questions to arise. It was harder to stay awake than he expected. He had never tried to go without sleep before, and it was not an easy thing to do. He felt unusually heavy for someone who was floating in orbit around the Earth, and it was difficult to keep his eyes open. But he had to. He had to keep the act up until there was a chance that he could rescue all of the gems, or they found a way to escape. Steven was certain that Pearl had gotten his message, but Amethyst hadn't.

Steven squeezed his eyes shut and took in a shuddering breath. He could still see the murderous expression in her eyes. Steven didn't doubt for a moment that she would follow through with her promise if she somehow escaped. She had gone from being his friend to wanting to kill him. That was harsh. The transition had happened so quickly. He at least thought she might deny things, or realize that everything he said sounded completely fake, and wrong. Amethyst was too angry to see what he was doing. Steven knew this might happen, it was nothing less than he had expected the entire time. That didn't make things any easier though. He would just be glad when this was all over, and he would be able to explain things to Amethyst. Hopefully before she got the chance to kill him.

Suddenly, the door slid open, revealing Jasper. Just the sight of the gem made him want to shudder in disgust. He had never liked gems that were war-obsessed. They all seemed to be the same: Prideful sadists, that could go on for hours about the battles they had fought in, and where all of the chips in their gems came from. He had been dealing with these types of gems since the day he had been born, and knew how to keep his disgust and fear to himself. This was much harder though. He'd never really acted enthusiastic when listening to what the veterans told him. He just needed to seem appreciative. Sucking up to the gem was a lot more difficult because of how much he disliked violence, and gems who wanted to hurt other gems. Well, he'd have to start acting once again.

"Hello!" He chirped. "Do you need me for something?"

"How much do you know about the war that took place here?" Jasper asked.

"Not a lot." He admitted. "I've never even talked to a gem that fought in it before."

"I fought in it." She reminded him, subtly flexing her arm muscles.

"Right! I forgot! You're just in a lot better condition than most veterans! You must be really strong!"

She grinned at the compliment.

"You know, I could tell you some stories about this war." She offered. "It would be a good lesson in history, and you could begin your studies again."

"Really?"

Steven didn't know that his voice could go so high. It almost hurt to talk the way he was. But laying it on thick seemed to be the right way to do things. It seemed completely unbelievable to himself, Steven could hear each and every lie he said repeating in his mind over and over again.

Jasper however, seemed like a sponge, and her ego happily received each and every lie that he could think to say to her. She did not doubt for a moment that everything he told to her was the truth, even after he had "admitted" that he lied to the Crystal Gems to become their friends. He didn't understand how it could work so well, but it did. So he kept doing what he did, trying not to push the boundaries too far in the process.

"We'll ditch this boring ship and I'll show you one of the most important battlefields out there." She said.

"We are leaving Peridot behind, right?" He asked.

"Of course! She'll be too busy reading the rules to even notice that we left!"

He didn't have to fake a smile when he heard that. Even in short amounts of time, he had difficultly putting up with Peridot. She wasn't the least bit nice, or helpful. She just seemed to care about herself and her work. There was nothing wrong with caring about your work, but she was just plain mean. Not that Jasper was any better. Leaving her behind to worry about all the frivolous laws that the Home World placed upon them was at least something he could find himself enjoying. Not that he was supposed to be enjoying any of this.

Nodding, he left his room. They went to the atrium and took one of the escape pods out of the ship. Steven stared out of the window while Jasper dictated a set of coordinates to the escape pod. She dismissed the warning from the ship about wasting the power source while it was recharging. This was one of the finest warships that the Home World had to offer! Launching a single escape pod was not going to cause any problems! The ship was in perfect condition, it would be able to take one for the team.

Within moments, they were launched through the ship and down towards the Earth. At first, there seemed to be no change as they moved. Slowly, the Earth started to get closer, and they were passing around the edge of the planet. The view from the window was suddenly obscured by a layer of clouds. The curled around the window, spreading tiny, glittering droplets of water across the surface. It looked as if they were floating endlessly in the white clouds. But, land started to appear beneath them.

The clouds started to thin, revealing bodies of water and featureless green expanses of land. As they got closer to landing, more details started to show. There were roads and buildings, rivers, forests, and trees. Eventually, they started to pass over a field of rolling, green hills. It grew closer, and Steven could see the individual blades of grass brushing up against the window. He could feel the ground brushing up against the escape pod. They came to a gentle stop against a hill. There was a pneumatic hiss of air, and the door swung open.

Jasper cautiously peered outside, checking their surroundings. Then, she stepped out. Not spotting any imminent threats. She gestured for him to come outside as well. Steven got to his feet, but was nearly knocked over by a sudden wave of vertigo. The trip from the ship to the Earth had not been so bad, but suddenly he found that he was very dizzy. Jasper caught him before he could fall out of the escape pod's entrance, and gave him a slight shake. It was painful, but it still got him out of his dizzy trance. Steven gave her a grateful smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I guess you've never used one of those before?"

"I don't get off the planet often." He said. "I don't think I will once I get back either."

Jasper laughed, as if he had said something funny. Steven certainly didn't think that it was. But still, if he did return to the Home World, he knew that no one would let him out of their sights for a very long time. If he _had_ wanted to go back there, he wouldn't want to leave the planet for the remainder of his life. The idea of getting stranded on a foreign planet was a bit of an experience. One that he really didn't want to ever relive again. Jasper dropped him on the ground. Steven just barely managed to stop himself from falling. A slightly painful buzzing feeling passed through his feet, but it left as quickly as it had come.

Stretching out her arm, she gestured to the battlefield.

"Well, here we are."

The field was very large, going as far as he could see. There was a strangely fragrant smell in the warm air, it was nearly overpowering. Some of the area had small hills and valleys shaping it. The ground was not grassy, but covered in a tangled mess of plants. Tiny, white flowers were in bloom, and butterflies were serenely floating around the blossoms. Steven took one step forwards, and immediately felt something squish beneath his feet. He stepped back, and lifted his foot. Spread across it was something red. It looked like blood at first, but he realized that it was merely strawberry. The entire field was filled with blooming strawberry plants. Wrinkling his nose, he tried to wipe the strawberry off of his feet.

"Wow. This place his huge." He quietly said.

"Almost a million gems fought here on the first day."

"Half." He corrected. "The other side shouldn't count as gems. They were traitors."

"Huh, good point. And I suppose there were a few humans fighting in the mix as well."

"Humans _fought_ in this war?"

That part was actually news to Steven, he was genuinely surprised by this bit of knowledge. He only ever heard about the gems that had fought in the war, not the humans. They did live on Earth though, and Steven supposed it made sense that they would have gotten involved as well. This was their planet, and they had fought to protect it from the Home World. Yet, somehow, they were supposed to be the bad guys? It just seemed like a gem thing to never mention that the species had ever held any significance in their war.

"Of course. Not that they were a match for us." She grinned. "As soon as you got them to bleed, they were finished, couldn't fight back any more."

"Really?"

Her triumphant grin became even larger. Jasper picked a handful of strawberries that were growing, and squeezed her fist shut. The fruit was squished. Red juice and innards started to leak from her hands. Flecks of it landed on her face, but the gem didn't seem to mind. She opened her fingers, and carelessly flicked away the remains of the fruit. Steven felt slightly sick when she did this, imagining what it would look like if that happened to a human instead. The mental image he got was not pretty.

They began to pick their way through the strawberry field, trampling the plants as they went. With each step they took, there was a sickening, wet, squish. Steven began to feel more nauseous the farther they walked into the field. The sun above was bright, making it incredibly hot outside. The sticky juice that stuck to his feet began to creep up his legs as they walked into deeper patches, attracting butterflies. Steven tried to swat them away, but they wouldn't leave him alone. Not only that, his mouth was starting to feel dry, and he was incredibly tired. He hadn't eaten or taken a drink since the night before.

"Hm, you'd think there would be a lot more weapons laying around." Jasper mused.

"Do you think the Crystal Gems took all the weapons?"

"I wouldn't put it past them." She growled.

"Where are we going?"

Jasper pointed to a series of levitating hills that were on the horizon. They looked very far away to Steven, who was already tired. He didn't know why she wanted to go to there of all places, even if there was not much to see in the ghostly silent field. Steven chose to not say anything while they walked to where the hills were floating. He was out of breath, and didn't want to waste any by talking to her.

When they got to the floating ledges, Jasper started to climb towards the largest hill. She jumped across a series of tiny ones, making her way to the top. Steven inwardly groaned, but tried to follow. He backed up slightly, and then made a running jump for the first ledge. But something caught on to his foot, he tripped, landing face-first in the strawberries. There was another squelching sound, and he felt strawberry guts sink into his uniform. He was only inches away from falling off the cliff. Steven crawled back from it before something like that could happen. In a single, cat-like motion, Jasper sprang down from the hill, arriving squarely in front of Steven.

"What happened?"

"I tripped on something." He said, rubbing his foot.

Bending over, she looked for the thing that had caught him by surprise. Jasper had very little trouble finding what it was. She ripped out a knife that had been tangled between some strawberries. It looked puny in her hands, the hilt of it was not even visible. The blade was rustling around the edges, but looked otherwise sharp and intact. Jasper took a few practice swings with the knife, jabbing at an invisible target. Then, she tossed it to Steven. He fumbled before catching it. In his hands, the knife was much larger, but he could still hold it without any trouble. In fact, it seemed to be the perfect fit for someone of his size.

"This looks kinda' small for a warrior gem." He said, turning it over to Jasper.

"It's used for close combat."Jasper explained. "Knock 'em over and then take them out with this!"

She struck the air once again. Then, she bent over, so Steven could see what she was pointing to on the blade. There were small, wicked-looking serrations along the edge of it. Some of them had fallen off with the rust, but most of them were still in place.

"See those?"

He nodded.

"It makes the wound bigger when you take it out. Their flesh'll get stuck on these parts."

"Oh."

Steven couldn't think of much more to say when it came to this kind of advice. This was exactly the type of thing he was used to veteran gems saying. He didn't know how to reply to something like this. The boy simply didn't get what was so amazing about their excitement for violence and the uses of different weapons. He didn't want to think about sticking that knife into another gem, or person. It looked like it would be awful, extremely painful. He didn't want to cause anyone this much pain, no matter what they had done to him.

"Still, you'd have to be right behind a gem to get this in." She mused. "Shame really."

Jasper tossed the knife back to him.

"Too bad it's rusty." He squeaked.

"What are you talking about? Give that thing a good polish and it'll be fine!"

"I- should we be taking things from here? It is a battlefield after all."

The gem slapped him on the back. The force of it caused Steven to nearly fall straight off the cliff, but he stopped stumbling before that could happen.

"It's made for you, keep it."Jasper insisted,

"What?"

"That tiny thing is perfect." She repeated. "It's a backstabber, just like you!"

Steven wanly smiled, and tucked the knife in his pocket.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

* * *

Peridot was not pleased when Jasper and the Steven "mysteriously" appeared on the ship once again. The two thought they could just run off and do whatever they wanted while she stuck around and watched the ship! What if one of the prisoners broke out and no one was there to handle it? What if something went wrong with the ship? But of course that went completely over there heads, and she was left sitting in the middle of a warship, doing absolutely nothing! All she had wanted to do was check up on the kindergarten of Earth, see how everything was progressing! But of course not! For whatever reason, the _Steven_ had to take priority. As if there was something important about him! Her job was the important thing here, but no one ever seemed to realize that.

Jasper and the Steven returned all coated in some red substance which was apparently the dye from a plant, not human blood. Peridot wasn't sure how true that was when coming from the moronic mouth of Jasper. Peridot honestly didn't understanding fascination some gems had with gore and violence. It was much easier to crush your enemies into oblivion and be over with it all. There was no need to show off or be fancy about things.

But, she supposed that solid blocks of unthinking muscle did have some purposes. She never would have been able to finish her job without an escort to stop those pesky Crystal Gems. Well, she also hadn't finished her job, no thanks to the same escort. But she was much closer to finishing her work. So close in fact, that she could take an escape pod down to Earth herself, check the status of the cluster, and then be back before they had even orbited the Earth. Was there really any harm in doing that? It wasn't like they needed her to do anything important on the warship right now. And wouldn't it take even more of the Home World's resources to send her back here? That wouldn't be good for progress in the slightest.

She was supposed to be as loyal and patriotic to the Home World as possible now wasn't she? Saving their resources was a _good_ thing. Furthering their scientific progress was _also_ a good thing. And doing something that _wasn't_ orbiting around a planet sixteen times (Although, they had already completed twelve of their sixteen rotations by the time Jasper and Steven left.) sounded like an _especially_ good idea. It would be a disservice to the Home World if she died of boredom, right?

Little more was needed to justify Peridot's plan. So with that, she activated one of the escape pods, disregarded the warning about the ship's power source, and left.

Not five seconds later, the ship's power cut out completely.

* * *

Steven was walking down the hall towards the control bridge when he heard a slight groaning sound. Then, nothing. The entire ship lurched, sinking down towards the Earth. Everything seemed to freeze, silent and stationary. Then, the lights started to flicker. One by one, the rows of light sources went out, leaving him in the dark. The buzzing sound the fields in front of the cells made stopped, the yellow glow they made dissipating. Overwhelmed by the dark for a moment, he could do nothing more than stand, blinking in the dark while he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

When the power didn't return, and the back-up lights didn't turn on, Steven realized he had been given the chance he needed. The gems would be free, and Jasper would only have her own weapon on her. Peridot would be helpless without any technology, and the two Home World gems could be outnumbered easily and stopped. It wasn't what he had been expecting while on the ship, but it was exactly what he needed to have happen.

Steven turned and ran in the opposite direction. His feet and chest ached before he could even take a step, everything had been going on for so long, with so little rest. But now was not the time to be tired, he couldn't sleep right now, he couldn't give up when they were so close to breaking out of the Home World's grasp again. He ran to where Lapis' cell was first. Lapis was still sitting in the same position, her knees tucked to her chin, and her eyes downcast. She did not even seem to realize that the destabilization field outside of her cell was now gone.

"Lapis! We can get out now"

Steven reached for her shoulder, planning on shaking his friend out of her numb state, but she reacted before he could touch her.

"Stop!" She hoarsely yelled.

He stopped what he was doing.

"It's ok, I didn't actually mean it when I said-"

"No! I don't want your help! Things are bad enough as it is. I've already made too much trouble. Once we get back to Home World, they're going to decide what to do with us."

"But-"

Lapis sadly shook her head.

"Steven, whatever you're doing, just _stop_. If we do everything they say, they might go easy on us."

"But I don't want to do what they say anymore! They hurt my friends, and they've got you here in prison!"

"That's why we _can't_ fight them." She whispered.

"That's why we _have_ to fight them."

Lapis turned away, and Steven stepped from his friend. He felt awful, knowing that the Home World had done something to her when she returned. He had never seen her like this before, so _helpless_. He didn't know what the Home World had done to her once she arrived, but he was not going to stand for it. He was not going to lose another one of his friends!

"I'll come back for you."

Heart pounding, he rushed down the hall. The walls and floor of the ship still gave off an odd, fluorescent glow, even in the dark. It was barely visible, but he could see where he was going. Steven came back to the atrium of the ship. The skylight here showed how close they were now getting to the Earth. They were falling back down now that the engines had all given out. This just reminded Steven that there wasn't much time left before the warship went down.

The view of the Earth shed light down upon the area. Something about this made him freeze. Steven's hair started to stand on end. He didn't step into the light, cautiously backing away. Squinting in the darkness, he tried to sense what was there. Then, Steven picked up someone's laboured breathing. In the eerie, subdued air of the ship, it was not very hard to miss. He saw a pair of glowing orange eyes appear in the darkness.

 _Jasper_.

He didn't dare make a move. He could see the gem's outline now, carefully searching the area. Slowly but surely, her eyes came to rest on him. Steven didn't know what do to. He was certain that she saw him, and knew exactly what was going on. It wasn't possible, but Steven told himself otherwise. Jasper started to move again. She too was avoiding the visibility the skylight created. The gem was creeping around the edge of shadow around the atrium, right to where he was. Steven could hear the slight shuffling of her feet, her hair brushing against the wall.

This was it. He either revealed himself, or attacked. But attacking was hopeless. He didn't have a weapon to summon or any complex fighting skills. Jasper was a mass of solid muscle, she couldn't even tap him on the shoulder without knocking him over. The only thing he had was... The knife. The _backstabber_... Steven realized it was too late now to tell Jasper that he was there. She'd be startled, and attack him. If that happened, there was no way he would be able to make it off the ship before it went down.

Normally, he would have tried to steady his breath, reassure himself before he did something that made him nervous. It was a small, yet comforting gesture. But in the dark silence of space, it would give everything away. Jasper was already at the halfway mark on her secretive trip around the atrium, there wasn't much time left. With shaking fingers, he took the knife, and fit it to his hand. He had no choice at this point. Here, he would take his first stance against the Home World, and expose the truth to them all. Steven had hoped to keep it secret for longer than this, but he had known that by the end of this living nightmare, his act would be revealed.

" _Make it quick Steven. Stick it in, and then run to find the others. Just think about you and your friends. Amethyst, and Connie, and Lapis Lazuli... All together after this war. You're doing this **for** **them** Steven. I know you can win. Do it for them... NOW!"_

Jasper looked back at the hall from which she had come from, revealing the back of her neck and shoulders. The knife hit it's target with ease, raking across her back, and lodging deep inside with a sharp twist. Howling in pain, she whirled around, trying to reaching for the knife with one hand, and the assailant with the other. Jasper was momentarily stunned to see who what gotten her from behind. Her surprise turned into fury when she put the pieces together.

"WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

Steven was paralysed with horror, the frantic message telling him to run not quite reaching his legs. Trembling, he looked down at his hand. Steven half-expected to see it coated with blood. Gems didn't bleed though, the only evidence was the shaking in his hand. He ran away from the screaming, howling scene of the crime, down one dark, endless hallway without direction. He didn't know which path he had just taken, or where he was now going. The only thing he could see was the faint green light of the ship's interior.

Nothing stopped him until he ran into a towering wall of fire. Or rather, what felt like one. Steven numbly looked at the ceiling, wondering why he felt like he was beginning to burn to a crisp. Suddenly, his feet were freezing, and he felt someone lukewarm shake his shoulders. Sort of like the first time the gems had tried to leave him trapped in a bubble. All because they'd been worried for his mental health, worried over a future vision.

He was supposed to become a murderer after all. Had he become one? He didn't hear Jasper anymore. He didn't hear anyone. The floor seemed oh so comfy now. He didn't want to think about anything right now, and his eyes just felt too heavy. Gravity did that to a gem, and he had been awake for so long now. All he wanted to do was sleep. The feeble light the ship provided seemed to fade into complete darkness.

The gems should have bubbled him while they had the chance...

* * *

From his spot on the beach, Lion watched the night sky. It was unlike any he had seen before. The most unnatural shade of green blended in with a harsh, bloody orange. It made an ugly, burning colour in the sky. The green hand had returned and vanished many times over the day. Sixteen in fact, he had counted. Now, it was slowly making it's way across the horizon again. Not sideways, but downwards. It grew closer, so close, that it was heading right for Beach City. Lion sat up, now focusing all of his attention upon the ship. This was different from the movements the hand had been making in the past. It was coming closer at an incredibly fast rate, and the green light it had produced before was starting to fade.

A low, rumbling noise began. Lion pushed back his ears as the sound became deafening. The hand soared above his head, flying so lowly that he could have touched it with his nose. Lion flattened on to his belly to avoid being hit with the projectiles. He closed his eyes, hoping that it would all be over soon. The rumbling reached a crescendo, causing the very ground to tremble beneath it. It ended with a series of metallic crunches, the sound of things breaking and scraping against each other. Lion did not open his eyes until he was certain that the noise was all over.

The smell of smoke reached his nose. It was acrid, and smelled unnatural. Lion spotted where the flames were coming from, and saw that they were a hazy, green-white colour. They seemed to burn whatever they could reach, needing little more than the oxygen in the air to stay alive. There were green bits and pieces of the ship littered everywhere across the beach, but the bulk of it rested against the side of the temple.

Not for long though. The hand exploded in a burst of viridian light. Large chunks of the wreckage were hurled even farther across the beach and into the water. More fires sprung up, and a warm wind started to stir the sand. It was unlike anything that Lion had ever seen. But he got over his shock when the smell of the pink one tickled his nose.

Running towards the remains, lion roared, breaking down entire walls. He didn't stop until he had found the pink one, laying wedged between two scraps of metal. His eyes were closed. Lion sniffed him, and was surprised to discover that the human-gem was sleeping. He pawed the human's chest, and tried roaring at him.

* * *

Steven's eyes fluttered open when he felt something heavy being pressed on his chest. The sky above was oddly pink, and all around him, he could hear sizzling, popping noises. The air smelled wrong. It was thick with smoke, and a sharp, unpleasant scent was carried with it. The smell made his nose curl, and Steven felt like his insides were being poisoned with every mouthful of air that he took in. The air was searing hot, and filled with plumes of ash.

It burned in his lungs and throughout his chest. Steven coughed, only to wince in pain. His chest really hurt. His head hurt. Everything, all of him, he hurt too much to think, to do anything. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to feel. The weight left his chest, so Steven tried to stand. His legs hurt, he felt very shaky, but he could still walk. The smoke cleared when he started to walk. Realizing that there was a fire on the beach, Steven walked towards the water. He would be safe there. There were chunks of the ship near and in the water as well. A slight movement around them caught his attention. He saw something pale emerge from through one of the long proportions of the ship's fingers.

Maroon crawled to the pale something, from a place not far from where he was. Finally, violet joined the group. The three colours danced before his eyes, moving in fascinating, memorizing patterns. Their colour scheme looked a little incomplete to him though. They needed a lighter colour between them. Pink seemed like a good choice, he could add to that. Steven walked closer to the three, planning on joining them.

Their movements became more rapid, larger than before. They were coming closer to him, he could see that their mouths were open, and they were saying something. The words to him seemed like a foreign, alien language. How was he supposed to understand what they were saying? One of them, pale, pointed to the space next to him. Only it wasn't just space. It was orange. It clashed horribly with the green of the ship and the red of the sky. It would make the colour scheme look messy...

The gems were trying to get out from beneath the wreckage of the ship. There was no way for them to stop Jasper from coming up behind Steven and grabbing him by the neck. She viciously shook the boy around as if he weighed nothing to her. Steven struggled around and clawed at her fingers, trying to make Jasper let go. No amount of prying could loosen the gem's death-hold circling around his neck. Steven made an awful series of choking and pleading noises, desperately fighting a loosing battle against her.

"D-don't think you've won!" She hissed, directly in his face. "You only beat me because-"

Jasper's words were cut off by a raspy coughing fit. The gem fell to her knees, her body flickering in and out of existence. She let go of Steven. He rolled away from her, weakly clutching his neck and gasping for breath. The polluted air was welcome to him. It was at least better than getting none. He began to crawl away from her, to where the gems were. He couldn't get far enough from Jasper before she recovered. The gem wrenched the knife out from her back, and brought it down upon his leg. Steven cried out in pain, trying to shake the knife out of his leg. It was stuck, twisted in so painfully that he could barely move. Not letting go of his leg, she dragged him back towards her.

"Where do you think you're going huh?"

Even if the gems weren't stuck, they wouldn't have been able to prevent what she would do next. Drawing back her hand, she spread her fingers so they were completely flat. Then she stuck her hand straight into his stomach. He could manage little more than a feeble protest of pain, and tried to squirm away. But with one hand, she pressed down on his neck, effectively keeping him in place. The gem wriggled her fingers around, and pulled them out curiously. There was something wet coating them, a red substance she had not encountered for years.

"Blood?"

A quiet gurgling sound was her response. Jasper's rage returned. She didn't care whether he was human or a gem. He was a traitor, and she would make him pay for what he had done! The tore a new hole through his abdomen with her hands, and slowly grabbed his gem. With a quick yank, she had pulled it out of his stomach. He poofed instantly. The gem was slick with blood. Jasper started to squeeze the gem between her fingers, intent on crushing it into pieces before her eyes. But the sharp edges around it cut into her palm, she could only get it to crack.

Jasper was exhausted, but triumphant. She fell back on to her knees once again, her strength from before fading. She looked down at the blood-slicked stone in her palm, a new, jagged crack running down the middle. A deranged laugh bubbled from her throat. She threw Steven's gem down in front of the Crystal Gems for all of them to see.

There were three collective cries of;

"STEVEN!"

Garnet was the closest to the gem. Straining herself, she just barely reached the bloody stone. When she got near to it, Garnet hissed, and withdrew her hand. She tried again, putting on one of her gauntlets. But to the same result.

"What is it?" Amethyst asked.

"It's too hot to touch!"

The heat continued to radiate outwards, until even the gems found it unbearable to be close to. Steven's gem glowed white-hot, and it started to rise again. Jasper clumsily got to her feet, brandishing the knife that had been lodged into Steven's leg only moments before. She grinned at the gem and asked;

"Already asking for more?"

Even as she asked so, the gem was panting, just barely on her feet. She had to step back. The gems realized that this wasn't a normal reformation, that something was wrong if Steven was returning from his gem so soon after what had just happened. They shielded their eyes from the light when it became too blinding for any of them to see. Even with their eyes closed, it still pierced through their vision. A second, strong wave of fiery energy crossed the beach.

The light coming from the gem faded, they could see again. Then, it started to vibrate in place. There was a quiet crackling sound. The impossible happened right before their eyes. Slowly, the crack in the gem started to fill in, neatly repairing the damage done to it. Then, a silhouette emerged, and the fixed gem began reformation. Collapsing to the ground, the gem snarled in pain. It's form wavered, switching shapes and sizes. The gem became stable after a moment to breathe, having settled on one form.

"What? W-where's S-Steven? W-what's going on?"

Rose lifted her head, and shook the hair out of her face. She curiously tried to feel her hair, and then her fingers.

"I-I'm real." She choked. "W-why am I h-here? Where's Steven? Where-"

Her eyes seemed to look past the petrified Crystal Gems. Rose turned around, trying to see the world around her. It was then that she saw Jasper. The haunting look of confusion on her face faded in an instant. The rage she felt was almost palpable. The other gems flinched, trying to hide when they saw the purely murderous expression that twisted on to her face. Jasper recoiled in fear, falling backwards into the sand.

"You..."

"W-what _are_ you?"

"YOU KILLED US!"

"I-it wasn't me! The g-gem who did is gone! They killed her!"

Rose's form waved, only to reappear with her shield in hand. She lunged towards Jasper, swinging the side of the shield towards Jasper's face. She rolled out of the way, and started to crawl backwards from her. Rose took a second, shaky step forwards and swung it towards her face again, clearly aiming on smashing her gem.

"You killed us!" She wailed again.

"N-no! Get away from me!"

"I'm going to rip out your gem and show it to you!"

This time, the shield met it's mark, smashing across Jasper's face. The gem spat out several of her teeth into the sand. Rose started to reach for her gem. Jasper pushed away her hand, hoarsely screaming. She finally managed to stand again. Jasper stumbled through the wreckage of the ship, trying to escape the vengeful monster that was after her. The shield caught the back of her legs before she could get far.

She weakly got up again, her form still fighting to keep solid. She realized that she was corned between the cliff face, and the walls of flame around her. She could see the thing walking near her again. Like a cornered animal, she bristled and snarled, trying to find a way to stave off the inevitable event of death. But her furious, animalistic cries turned into howling sobs.

Then, she felt something move next to her. From the charred, emerald, ruins, Lapis Lazuli dragged herself. When she saw what was happening on the beach, she sprouted wings, and jumped into the air. Jasper desperately grabbed on to the gem's leg before she could fly away. The gem struggled, but could do nothing to stop her.

"Lapis! Help me! It's going to kill me!" She sobbed. "Lapis you have to help me! It'll smash all of us!"

Lapis saw the shape of a gem through the billowing smoke. It was inching closer to them, breathing heavily, and swinging it's shield towards them. Steven's shield... Or rather, Rose Quartz's shield. Lapis tried to shake off Jasper, but the gem only clung on to her more tightly. She pleadingly tried to keep her there with her.

"Let go of me!"

"Lapis listen, fuse with me!"

"I- what?"

"That thing isn't your friend anymore! It's an abomination! A traitor to the Home World! We'll be strong enough to stop it together! The Home World will go easy on you if you help! I promise!"

"You... Killed... Us..."

The thing's quiet, exhausted words became a slow, steady chant in her ears. Lapis looked at the monster. It's teeth were bared and it was snarling at them. It was covered in blood and ash, it's hair was messy, torn. Every time the gem's image flickered, it returned looking more gruesome than before. Blood was starting to leak from the gem, and was soaking into it's once white dress. It was limping with one leg, dragging it across the sand as it the knife in it had been a minor inconvenience.

When she saw the shadow that was cast over it's eyes, she shivered. There was something, accusing about the expression. She had nearly killed Steven. She almost left him to drown twice, and deserted him on Earth while she went to get help. Even in the end, she couldn't stop this from happening. Lapis realized she was just as guilty as Jasper for letting this happen to Steven. This thing wasn't her friend anymore. It was out to kill them. It would kill them if she didn't do something.

Turning to Jasper, she offered the gem her hand. Jasper took it in her own, almost pulling Lapis over. Numbly, she went through the steps for her dance, thinking of nothing other than her hatred for this planet, against everything the Home World had done to her. What they would do to her if they stopped the monster, if they went back home. Jasper hastily turned her around, and she held herself limply. This was all they needed so they could unite in their hatred.

The Crystal Gems watched in awe as a massive fusion appeared from the light. It was nearly as monstrous as Rose. It sprouted four legs, and angry green-blue stripes ran down it's middle and legs. The fusion cackled, showing off her fanged teeth, and then lifted her arm. A wave of water followed, growing fingers and twisting into a hand. The gems prepared to be washed underneath the ocean with the rest of Beach City. But something went wrong. The hand grabbed on to it's arm, forming shackles. More waves rose from the ocean, chaining the fusion.

"Huh? What are you doing?" Jasper's distorted voice asked.

"I'm done being everyone's prisoner." She gasped. "Now you're my prisoner! And I'm never letting you go!"

The ocean started to drag her back into the water. The fusion fought with herself, proportions bending out of place. Her face separated in two before melting back into a while again. It became evident who was truly in control. Just before she could submerge beneath the waves completely, she choked;

"Let's stay on this miserable planet, together!"

She disappeared beneath the water completely, leaving no trace of where she had gone.

"They are really bad for each other."

Rose dropped her shield, and it vanished. The gem fell on to her hands and knees, hoarsely starting to laugh at her words. The gem's horrible laughter echoed across the beach. It sounded insane, nothing like the friendly, familiar giggles they had been familiar with. Her voice sounded gritty and harsh, as if her throat was scratchy and dry. Her laugh morphed into a low, mourning sob. The frightening noise made the Crystal Gems no less scared of what they had seen. Rose finally seemed to calm down. She feebly brushed the hair away from her eyes one last time.

"You can come out now."

Then, Rose poofed, her gem falling harmlessly to the ground.


	32. Full Disclosure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to call this chapter 'Attack of the People Speaking in Italics Because There's an Odd Amount of that in this Chapter.' But 'Full Disclosure' fit the serious tone better. Also this chapter is pretty boring if you ask me, since we're wrapping up the drama. Hopefully it isn't for you guys.

_"_ _Steven..."_

_"What? Who said that?"_

_"You have to reform now."_

_"I-I don't want to! She'll hurt me again!"_

_"Very well."_

There was a sudden, gut-wrenching pain in his stomach. Steven clutched it in agony, trying to make the burning sensation go away. It felt like there was an inferno tearing through his gem. The pain hurt so much, he thought it might be the thing that finally killed him. This might be the time that he finally died, couldn't make it out of his gem. There had always been the risk that he might stop reforming one day. The lesson had been repeated to him constantly. It justified the practice that he was put through, didn't it? The inside of his gem was at least calm when compared to the chaotic world he had left on the outside.

There were no fires burning here, there was no ship wreckage scattered across the ground. And there were no other gems. No Crystal Gems trapped in the rubble, no enemies waiting to attack him from behind. It was all over now. He felt almost, proud of himself. He had helped save the Crystal Gems from certain doom, he had crashed the ship, and even lied to his superior somewhat believably. He had even been strong enough to endure the fall from the sky to the ground. He really did feel stronger. But not strong enough to return and face what was waiting for him on the beach. Jasper was still there, probably doing something awful to the others. He didn't feel any more pain in his gem, so he could only assume that was the case.

Some of him still wanted to help the others. The gems needed him, his friends needed him. Greg and Vidalia... He had to tell them what he had been doing all along. He didn't want to die with them still hating him. Connie might never know where he had gone, and he would never find out what happened to Lapis. But, he was so tired. He had been awake for so long, been faking for what felt like an eternity. He didn't want to fight anyone else, he didn't want to pretend and lie. Just... A little time to rest. A little time to himself, until he felt stronger again. Until all the danger was over and he could try to leave. His head seemed to grow more heavy, Steven felt as if he were being watched again. He looked around, trying to find who was watching him, but he didn't see anyone. He was alone in his gem, wasn't he?

_"You can come out now."_

_"What's over? Who's there?!"_

_"I won't always be able to fight your battles for you Steven. You can leave now."_

_"I'm not leaving! Everything hurts! I don't want to go back there."_

_"Well one of us has to return."_

_"Stop talking! Leave me alone!"_

_"You were very brave before. I don't think I could have acted as well as you did. It helped the gems a great deal."_

_"I didn't want to! It wasn't even a good idea!_

_"That's because it was my idea originally."_

_"That doesn't make any sense either! And if it was your idea, you made everyone hate me to make it work!"_

_"They won't."_

_"How do you know that?! You're not even real!"_

_"Do you really think everyone will be mad at you?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Do you plan on staying here and listening to me until the end of time?"_

_"NO!"_

_"Then go out and talk to everyone. You'll have to sooner or later, and it's better to get things over with."_

_"Who are you?"_

_"... The worst case scenario."_

_"That doesn't make any sense!"_

_"It will if you leave your gem."_

With their conversation only going in circles, Steven found himself a lot more willing to reform. It was amazing what a little persuasion could do to him. Especially when the thing persuading him was so frustrating to listen to. He didn't get it! And he didn't want to understand it either! All he wanted to do was rest, take a break without anything hurting. But even that seemed to be beyond his reach now. Not even residing in his own gem gave him the chance to take a break. He had never even liked waiting to reform. But now, he was more than ready to spend some time in his gem. At least until he had been bombarded by... He wasn't really sure what by. He wasn't interested in finding out either.

A short respite from everything would have been nice, but it seemed like that would have to wait. He had to deal with the outside world before any of that could happen. Well, at least his body didn't hurt anymore. Not that this was much of a surprise to him. The painful series of events he had gone through would leave no visible mark once he reformed. It was just his head that seemed to be in pain. He felt overwhelmed with emotions and memories of his short time trapped on the warship. But now was not the time to be concentrating on that. Now was the time to focus on not botching up his reformation... And finally getting rid of the god-awful pink hair he had sported for so long.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with a room that he did not recognize at first. The ceiling, sky, was pink. Like when he had woken up before. Instinctively, he shut his eyes, hoping that he was not still laying on the beach. But when he started to open his eyes again, Steven recognized the ceiling. It seemed like an odd thing to remember, but the pink tone and swirling pink clouds were something he would have trouble forgetting. It almost reminded him of what the inside of his gem was like: Warm, and oddly secluded, despite the wide-open space that it held. He had only ever gotten a brief amount of time to look around this part of the gem's temple.

The room made of strange, almost solid clouds was where he rested. Steven noticed that he was standing on a pillow, but the room was otherwise devoid of objects. Steven looked around, wondering why he was in the gem's temple, after he had been left on the beach. Had they picked him up and taken him here? That seemed to make the most sense out of everything that had happened to him so far. Steven looked down at his new body. He was back in more human-like clothes again, something he was grateful for. He felt a little taller as well.

"I want a-" Steven paused, rubbing his throat. For some reason, his voice had squeaked. "I want a mirror."

His blood ran cold when an identical copy of the mirror Lapis had been trapped in appeared. He wondered what had become of his other friend. Steven hoped that with all the water on Earth, she would at least be able to defend herself against Jasper. Maybe his friend was waiting for him with the other gems. Maybe she planned to stay with him on Earth, and she would help him fight against the Home World! She would see now that the Home World was a bad place, and they'd stand a better chance against any more attacks that came their way.

"I want a _different_ mirror." He said, waving a hand through the old mirror. "One I can actually see my reflection in."

This time, the room created a counter top with a sink on it. There was a large, square mirror attached to the back of it. The set-up was an exact copy of the one at Vidalia's house, but Steven was not too concerned by that. He was just glad to have an actual mirror, and his regular brown hair back again. It felt like an eternity since he had last seen the familiar dark brown. Now that he saw his normal hair again, it actually looked a little strange. But he was not too hung up on that. He felt like his normal self again, and that was what mattered.

Suddenly, Steven realized that he shouldn't be feeling like his normal self because his gem had cracked. But when he peered down at his stomach, the boy realized that there was nothing wrong with it. He had the same, pentagonal-cut gem resting where his belly button should have been. The rosy-pink gem looked shining and whole as ever. It was not cracked down the middle or covered in blood, like it would have been after Jasper attacked him. How was that possible?

"Room, I want to see the gems. The _real_ gems."

A door grew from the clouds. It lead just outside of the temple. Steven had to squint, as it was the morning, and the sun was glaring in his eyes. The normally calm-looking beach was a mess. That was glaringly obvious, even from his vantage point on the temple steps. There were green pieces of the ship littering the sand. The ranged from small scraps to whole, intact hallways from the ship. Steven could see the gems on the beach. They were doing their best to clean the beach of debris. There were three different piles that they had amassed.

He carefully made his way down the hill, and walked to where the gems were. Garnet saw him first, followed by Pearl. Amethyst glanced up for a moment, and then looked away. She picked up a chunk of the ship that was even larger than herself. She began to carry it to the pile of things that was farthest away, and tossed it there. Garnet and Pearl however, started to walk towards him. Garnet's expression was unreadable as ever, but Pearl's smile looked nervous, and her lips seemed to be twitching with the effort of keeping a smile on her face.

"Oh! You've reformed!" Pearl said.

"Welcome back." Garnet added.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions!" Pearl said, twisting her fingers. "We'll fill you in on everything right away!"

"Er, yeah. Right..." Steven glanced around the gems, trying to see Amethyst. "How come I was in the temple?"

"The room belongs to you now." Garnet replied.

Pearl looked at her teammate, silently asking her if she had lost her mind. Her smile became somewhat more twitchy as she tried to keep it in place. This made Steven feel suspicious, and he wondered if the gems were trying to hide something from him. He really wanted Amethyst to come over and talk to him. He knew that she would tell him the true events right away. But his friend seemed rather busy with dragging an even larger, heavier-looking part of the ship to the farthest pile away from where she was.

"Well what Garnet _meant_ to say is that Beach City is still recovering from the ordeal it went through, and so we kept you here for the time being."

"Where is every one now?"

"The citizens of Beach City have returned to their homes."

"They're mainly just putting in new windows." Garnet added.

"But where's Jasper? And Lapis?"

Pearl started to laugh, seemingly unable to control herself.

"Oh! Don't you worry about that! It's all dealt with now!"

"But where are they?"

"The bottom of the ocean."

"What?!"

"Garnet!"

Grabbing her arm, Pearl tried to pull her teammate aside. Garnet moved nowhere of course. Pearl glanced back a Steven, and then leaned in to angrily whisper something at her. Steven now knew for certain that they were trying to hide something from him. It had to do with what had happened on the beach, he knew that much. But why were Lapis and Jasper in the ocean? Why were they together? Had Jasper run away, taking Lapis in tow? Were they hiding? What was going on?!

"Steven, there's no easy way to put this." Pearl started. "But, Lapis Lazuli and Jasper may have... Fused to kill you only for Lapis to take over the fusion and use her hydrokinesis to drag them beneath the ocean."

"Why would they fuse? My gem was cracked!"

Pearl winced at the question.

"Your gem may have... Healed itself..."

What did she mean by _may have?_ It either happened, or it didn't happen! Steven was going to guess that it was something that _didn't_ happen, because it seemed rather impossible to him. Were they lying to him in the hope that he would believe it? Or was this the actual truth? Gems didn't just _heal_ on their own! The only way he knew how to fix other gems was through his spit! And he couldn't exactly use his healing spit when inside of his gem! None of this was making any sense. Was there some part of the story that they were trying to hide from him? The gems seemed to realize what he was thinking. Pearl grew more nervous, and Garnet didn't look nearly as stoic as she had before they had started to talk. Finally, they seemed to give in. Pearl bowed her head and sighed;

"It's easier to show you what happened."

Then, a translucent, blue hologram emerged from her gem. Steven saw his own gem in the projection, falling to the ground. It was cracked, and appeared to be wet with something. It started to rise up again, glowing, as if he were reforming. But instead of that, the crack started to fill itself in, knitting over until it looked like knew. Then, the impossible part happened. He saw his outline fighting with another, bigger one for a chance to exist. The foreign form won. It collapsed to the ground, clutching it's, _their_ , stomach, and moaning in pain. The gem wasn't neat and new-looking, like a reformed gem should have been. There was a growing ring of blood around their, _her,_ middle, and a gash was ripped through the back of her leg. She brushed the long ringlets out of her face, and looked straight ahead, directly into his eyes.

It was the giant woman... The worst case scenario...

_"That doesn't make any sense!"_

_"It will if you leave your gem."_

Steven nearly threw up. But he hadn't eaten anything for over a day, his stomach was empty. Instead he just felt horribly sick to his stomach. Pearl ended to projection, and straightened her posture again. Now she and Garnet were staring at him in concern. Suddenly, Steven wished that he had kept this all a secret from him.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"We know where your half-gem comes from."

* * *

Greg nervously drummed his fingers against the kitchen table, intently focused on the steaming cup of coffee in front of him. Vidalia was staring at the phone, holding a mug of black coffee in her hands. She was still in her nightgown and slippers, the same from nearly two days ago. Onion was sitting on her lap, and he was eating Vidalia's toast for her. The little boy was the only one out of the group who had eaten anything that morning. The drumming sound of Greg's fingers was drowned out by Sour Cream's snoring. He had fallen asleep leaning against the window, a pair of binoculars in hand.

They had reunited safe and sound in the next town over after leaving Beach City. From there, it had been one, long, nail-biting experience. They were all waiting for something to happen. Something good, something bad. It had seemed like something bad when they saw the ship fly off. It had seemed even worse when they got no communication from the Crystal Gems. But by far the worst was when the ship went down, and crashed on Beach City. His son was on that ship! A son who wasn't even aware that he had a father to begin with. A son who didn't care about him in the slightest, and had been using him all along.

Then the good news came. Everyone was fine, and the bad guys were dealt with. Steven had only been pretending to work with them all along. And his betrayal had cost him. The gems all refused to go into detail. Amethyst wasn't even _talking_ to anyone. But Greg knew that Steven was... "Resting" inside of his gem until he felt that he could return again. It was a relief to know that Steven wasn't faking all along. When Greg thought about what he had said, he realized that it sounded nothing like the kid he had grown to care about. He should have seen what he was doing sooner. But he hadn't. He felt silly for not realizing it, and for all the tears he had shed because of nothing. Still, Greg wanted to hear the truth from Steven himself. Then he would be able to rest a little more easily, knowing that it was one giant lie.

More good news would have been welcome though. Vidalia and her sons were waiting for Yellow Tail to arrive home, or at least call the house. But he hadn't done either of those things yet. With that crazy ship in the sky, who knew what the conditions of the ocean could become? They were all worried. Even Sour Cream had been looking towards the beach. At least, until he had fallen asleep. Onion and Sour Cream were not very close to Steven, so they didn't have to worry about him, but Vidalia had twice the amount of people to be fretting over. Steven had not returned from his gem either. Apparently, it was the gem who chose when they wanted to leave. Greg had hoped that he would reform sooner than this. But that wasn't the case. So they were waiting on two people to return. It was nerve-wracking, and he felt useless just sitting at the table doing nothing.

When they heard someone knock at the door, it caught all of their attention. Sour Cream snapped awake, and Onion jumped off Vidalia's lap. Everyone ran to to the door, not knowing who they expected to show up at the door. Sour Cream and Onion were disappointed to see that it was not Yellow Tail who had returned. Greg and Vidalia however, were both relieved to see Steven standing on the doorstep, looking somewhat shocked, but otherwise unharmed.

"Steven! You're back!" Vidalia gasped.

"Heh, yeah. I'm back." He weakly smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just wanted to let you know that I didn't mean anything I said on the beach. I had to lie, otherwise they would have killed everyone. I'm sorry I made you guys cry... And, I won't bother you again..."

The boy turned to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Greg asked.

"Away."

"Steven, you don't have to go anywhere." Vidalia said.

He started at the adults in confusion.

"But... I lied..."

"The gems already told us why." Greg said. "And we get it, you were trying to keep us all safe."

"You don't hate me?"

"What?! No! How could I hate my- favourite kid in the world?"

Vidalia gave Greg a funny look. But the man just couldn't bring himself to tell Steven the truth yet. It was just too complicated, and he wanted to wait until the right time to tell Steven. He didn't really know how the boy felt about family, and having parents. He lost most of the adoption papers while on the beach anyways. He would have to go through a lot of legal shenanigans before he could even ask Steven about it. Until then, he'd just keep things quiet. Besides, the town already thought (Correctly too.) that they were related. He was fine with that for now.

"I just thought-"

"We don't." Greg said.

"I've dealt with worse from Sour Cream." Vidalia added. "He and his friends drive me nuts some of the time. Speaking of which, Connie's left a message for you. Actually, it's more like thirty-six..."

"Could I check them now?"

"You better. Her parents are going to hit the roof when they see their phone bill."

Steven followed Greg and Vidalia inside the house. The main phone line and answering machine was set up in the kitchen, against the wall. The woman was willing to give up her wait for Yellow Tail if it would stop Steven's friend from calling almost every hour. She got that the kid was worried, but there was such a thing as overkill. Steven grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and stood on it so that he could reach the phone. Then, he pressed the play messages button.

_"Hey Steven, I'm sure you noticed, but everyone in Beach City is leaving, and I just wanted to make sure that you're-"_

_"Connie! Get off the phone! We have to leave!"_

_"In a second! Anyways, call me back. Bye."_

The second message started to play.

_"Hey Steven, everyone's back now, and I still haven't heard from you. Call me back. Bye!"_

_"Hey Steven, is everything alright? Beach City is kind of a mess, and that giant hand in the sky is on the beach now. You didn't have anything to do with that, right? Call me back!"_

With each message, Connie started to sound more worried and upset. Steven felt his stomach sink, realizing how nervous Connie sounded. He really didn't want to tell her what had gone on. She was going to be so mad at him! He should have come clean since the beginning, and just explained to her that his Home World was bent on killing the life on this planet and forcing him to return home so that he could become a perfect, functioning member of society and their military. That was hard to say, and it would be even harder for him to explain to her. Because of that, he was worried about what her reaction might be.

But, Vidalia and Greg hadn't been too mad at him, and he had done something much worse to them. That meant Connie wouldn't be as mad right? She wouldn't hate him, just because he was trying to protect her, and didn't want his friend to miss him. He had thought he was leaving the Earth behind forever, and that meant never getting to hang out with Connie again. He didn't want to leave her behind, knowing that he would be have to resume an awful life back on Home World. Not knowing was better than knowing. He had learned that much after the Crystal Gems recounted how Jasper was defeated.

He had already lost Lapis. And he was not going to loose another friend because of his mistakes.

Explaining though... That would be complicated. He couldn't do this over the phone. It had to be in person. And not through just talking about it. But how-? Steven remembered what Apatite had done with him so long ago. It hurt to think about another one of his lost friends, yet another mistake that had cost him in the end. But he was learning, he could do this. And not only that, he had the perfect song to go with it.

"Mister Universe, you know that song we were working on earlier?"

* * *

Dr. Maheswaran peered through the curtains of the living room. There was a van parked on their side of the road, right in front of their house. But this was no ordinary van, it was a van with a custom, albeit faded, paint job. That wasn't even the extraordinary part. There were two floodlights pointing to the top of the van, and at the house. That was especially strange, seeing as it was daytime. They were plugged into the car's battery with simple jump cables. An electrical hazard if she ever saw one. There was also a sound amplifier resting on top of the van. In addition to all of these sound things, there was a ladder, extending from the grass on their lawn, to the second floor. It just so happened to be that Connie's room was _right_ above the living room.

And that wasn't even the amazing part. That went to her daughter's friend, Steven. For not only was he on the ladder, balancing with his feet alone, not only had he dragged an extension cord up to the top of the ladder with him, he was playing the guitar and singing. Without any sheet music either. His... Guardian, Mr. Universe (She still had trouble believing that was his real last name.) was holding the ladder steady with one hand, and playing the electrical keyboard at the same time.

Dr. Maheswaran was very confused to say the very least. She glanced down at her daughter, who was also staring at Steven through the curtains.

"Should we tell him you're downstairs?" The woman asked.

"I'll just go out and talk to him."

Connie left the house, and stepped out on to the lawn, where her friend was still playing the guitar and singing.

"You don't need this... You don't need me..."

Steven began an impressive guitar solo. Connie had only ever seen him practice a little bit with Mr. Universe. But he was good, really good. Greg saw her first, and abruptly stopped playing the keyboard. Steven saw that she was outside, and stopped playing as well. He slid back down the ladder and ran towards her, guitar still in hand. He was waving the other hand as he said;

"Connie! Did you hear the song?"

"I think the whole neighbourhood did." She mumbled. "What are you doing? Where were you?"

"That's what I was just explaining!" Steven replied. "I did it through song!"

"Steven... I have no idea what your song is about."

"Oh... Ah..." His cheeks started to turn red. "Mr. Universe, we need to take it from bar three."

"Alright! An encore! On four! One, two, one two three f-"

"NO! No!" She interrupted, shaking her head. "No more encores! Let's just, talk."

"Talk? Where?"

Connie looked back at the house, where her mother was still watching them from the window. Then, she turned to where Mr. Universe was still at the keyboard. He was at least pretending that he could not hear their conversation, and was loudly humming a song to himself. Connie settled for the middle ground. She sat down on the stairs by the front door. Steven sat down next to her, his face still red as a tomato.

"Where were you? What happened?"

Steven squeezed his eyes shut, and answered her question with the longest, most breathless run-on sentence that she had ever heard.

"My home planet was looking for me and they found me and I don't want to go back but I had to pretend that I wanted to otherwise they would have killed the gems and Mr. Universe and Vidalia and I didn't want that to happen and I knew that I would have to leave the Earth forever so I didn't tell you because you would be sad! Except the power on the ship went out so we were able to escape, only one of the gems may have almost killed me and it turns out that the half-gem in me is able to take control of my physical form and also she's the fallen leader of a war against the Home World over five thousand years ago and, yeah."

"That hand in the sky, was a ship?"

Steven nodded.

"And you were essentially kidnapped?"

Again, he nodded.

"You're not alone in your gem?"

He visibly shuddered this time, and hugged his arms around his stomach. Connie felt the same, leaden feeling in her own stomach. She had known there was something watching them while they fused. Being with Steven didn't just feel like being with Steven. It was almost like there had been another gem in there with them. Silent, but still watching them. At least that answered the paranoid question she had asked him afterwards. Connie might have found it much less menacing than just having Stevonnie there with them, if not for... Well, everything in Steven's story.

"No."

"Why didn't you tell me that any of this would happen?" Connie asked.

"I didn't want you thinking of me like. Well..."

"Like what?"

Steven dropped his stare, and mutely shook his head. Connie shifted in her seat, wanting to know more on what he was talking about, why he was so nervous and... Really how any of this was possible. He had been taken by aliens, and part of him belonged to a dead warrior from an ancient war... Steven really did seem to have some kind of magical destiny thing out there waiting for him. But not the good kind. Connie gave his shoulder a soft shake, but he didn't respond.

"Steven, like what?"

"AN ALIEN CONNIE! One who's species invaded Earth!"

Connie recoiled in shock.

"What?"

"I mean, it was thousands of years ago! It's not like I was there!"

"They tried to take over the planet? And the gem in you stopped them?"

"They were doing something awful to the planet, and she couldn't stand it anymore. That's why she had to turn on our own kind. She gave up everything just to stop what they started here and drive the invading Gems off of Earth. She died for this planet, and now..." Placing a hand over his gem, Steven shook his head. "Why would the Home World do this to her gem? Am I some kind of punishment? I mean... Gems hate humans, and being part human..."

"Well, look on the bright side!" Connie nervously said. "At least you're here because of it!"

"Gems were destroyed... And people were too. Now there's only Garnet and Pearl left."

"Oh Steven..."

"So, are we good?" He hopefully asked.

Connie frowned slightly.

"I guess. I, I need some time to think about this Steven. It's just the whole _alien_ thing, and you not telling me anything about it. I thought we were closer than that."

"But, we'll talk again soon, right?"

"Of course."

"Oh. Ok then! Great!"

Connie stood up and opened the front door. She looked at Steven, and gave him a small wave.

"Well uh, bye."

"Bye."

_Slam!_

The door was quickly slammed shut in his face, and Steven heard Connie put both of the locks in place. He weakly smiled at Mr. Universe, indicating that it was fine for him to stop humming to himself. Greg took his hands off of his ears, and walked up to Steven, while wrapping up one of the extension cords as he went.

"So, how'd it go Stu-Ball?"

"Great! She said she just needed some time to think about what I told her!"

"Oh... Steven, that's not really a good thing." Greg said. "When a lady says that, it usually means she's already made up her mind and doesn't want to admit anything. Trust me, I've had it happen to be before in the past."

Greg shuddered in disgust, making a face. Steven did not seem to be bothered by what he had been told though, he still looked like he was becoming more cheerful once again.

"Well, at least she doesn't hate me! That's good!"

"Heh, yeah! Great!"

Poor kid. He still had a lot to learn about Earth...


	33. Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For any of those curious, the closing line is a pun on the word "fin" sans le lettre E.
> 
> A gigantic thank-you to those who have followed this dramatic soap-opera of a story for as far as they have. Your support was amazing, and never failed to make me smile. I originally wanted this chapter to end in a way that made it a good read for those who didn't want to read a sequel, but the more I read it, the more I realize how far I missed that target. 
> 
> Unless anything unexpected happens, there will be a sequel to this story. (Either Aberration or Absolution. I'm having trouble picking between the two titles.) My guestimate for when would be sometime in March of 2016. I have a few more loose ends with other stories to tie up in the meantime, and I really want to start a different one as well. 
> 
> But, so long for now.

"Hey Amethyst!"

"Hey."

Amethyst gave Steven a slight nod, before returning to wiggling the sign for the Big Doughnut. He found it a little strange that she hadn't said more to him, but Steven supposed that she was just tired, or trying to focus on her work. Not that there was much for to really do. People generally seemed to lose interest in what she was doing after the first few weeks, and she had mainly been showing off the sign for the Big Doughnut and wearing the painfully bright costume. He didn't really mind too much though. Amethyst didn't have a lot of time to talk to him now that she had a job. Even if it did seem like a more recent development.

Grabbing a handful of cash, he placed it on the counter, and rung the bell. Sadie appeared from the back room, glaring at Lars. She brightened when she saw him, and gave a small wave. Lars stuck his tongue out at her, and leaned against the wall. After their first few meetings, he had learned that it was best to just let him be annoying, and not say anything back. He'd stop talking eventually.

"Hey Steven! What can I get for you today?"

"Two doughnuts please."

"Should you really be eating two doughnuts?" Lars asked.

"I'm not. One's for Amethyst."

Sadie counted the cash that he had placed on the counter and gave Steven his change. He took the remaining coins and put them in his shorts pocket. In the meantime, Lars grabbed two doughnuts and wrapped them in a paper bag. Steven grabbed some napkins on the way out, and waved to the teens with his free hand.

"Thanks!"

He opened the door with his side, and walked to Amethyst.

"Hey Amethyst! I got you a doughnut!"

Amethyst took a startled step back. Her peripheral vision was not very good when she was wearing the doughnut costume. Her eyes lingered on Steven's gem for a moment, but he didn't notice this. Amethyst shook her head.

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good."

"But you love doughnuts!" He said, frowning slightly.

"I'm not really hungry." She replied.

"Ok, suit yourself." He took a chocolate doughnut out of the bag and started to eat it. "So, how's the clean-up with the gems going?"

"Good."

"Any sign of Lapis?"

Pushing the hair out of her eyes, she shook her head.

"Nope."

"Oh. Well-"

Amethyst interrupted Steven by saying;

"I'm kinda' busy right now. Could we maybe talk later?"

"I uh, of course!" He said, weakly trying to laugh. "I'll just go now."

Slightly taken aback, he started to walk back in the direction of Vidalia's house. That had been a little weird. But he was sure it didn't have to do with anything. Still, he didn't feel so hungry anymore, and the doughnut in his mouth suddenly seemed too sweet. He spat it out and tried to rid himself of the unhappy feeling that was now bothering him. Amethyst had work to do, she couldn't always talk to him. It wasn't like she didn't want to talk to him... She was just trying to seem responsible... Even if that was something that Amethyst had never really cared for. That didn't matter though. Steven was certain that they would talk again soon. She'd be off sooner or later!

Since he now had an extra doughnut, and nothing to really do in Beach City, he walked back to Vidalia's. He'd put the doughnut somewhere in the house for Amethyst, and then maybe go to the park. Or he'd see if Connie could come over. He was sure that she would have left a message for him now. It had been a few days since they'd last talked, and Steven knew that at any minute, she would call back and they could hang out again.

Steven really wanted to have a friend to talk to. The adults were fine, but they were sort of... Old. He wanted to distract himself from what had went on at the beach, and on the ship. He found himself having trouble shaking the creepy feeling that now seemed to stalk him. He felt awful, not like himself anymore. And he couldn't stop thinking back to what... _She_ had said about his friends, about what he had done on the ship. _She_ had encouraged him to attack Jasper before it was too late. _She_ had been the one who somehow knew that no one would hate him by the end of it all. _She_ had said that it was her idea all along. It was hard to feel like he was still himself when he now knew for certain there was another gem inside of him.

Was he being controlled the entire time? What if she had been trying to kill him all along, so she could get out again? Could it be possible she knew he would be half-killed after the ship went down? What if the gem had future vision, like Garnet did? It made sense. How else would she know the things that she did? The entire jailbreak, pretending to work with the Home World, it all could have been one elaborate plot. A giant plan to make sure that she could live. That was why his hair had turned pink when he last reformed. That was why he had accidentally changed small parts of himself when he practiced, why it was so hard for him to reform each and every time: Because there was another gem fighting to take his place...

Why did it have to be so hard to not think about terrible, awful things like that? He didn't want to believe it was true, but the more he thought about it, the more realistic it seemed. He kicked a pebble that was resting on the sidewalk. It skittered ahead a few feet, and then came to a rest. Steven started to focus his attention on the rock rather than the thoughts that seemed to haunt him. He kicked it down the sidewalk until he had gotten back to the house. From there, he gave it one final send off down the road. It landed in the sewer with a small splash.

No one was in the house when he entered. Steven figured that Vidalia was off running errands, while Sour Cream and Onion went off to do their own things. He never really saw them around that often. They were both busy with their own lives, and didn't seem very interested in talking to him. Yellow Tail didn't talk much either. It seemed like Onion got that from him. That didn't really bother him too much. He wouldn't know what to say even if they were there.

Entering the kitchen, he opened the fridge, and tried to find some room for his extra doughnut. There were a lot of jars filled with old paint in the middle area. More than once he had mistaken a container of white paint for the milk. It didn't help that the white paint was sometimes kept in a milk jug. He pushed aside a few vegetables that were laying on the second shelf, and managed to fit the bag into the cramped space. Now that he had properly stored the food for Amethyst, he could see if Connie had called him at all.

Steven pushed the chair up against the wall so that he could reach the house phone. He had grown accustomed to pressing the play button, and waiting for any potential messages that might have been left for him while he was out. The phone beeped, but nothing played. His hopeful smile sank when he realized that Connie still had not called him. But, she was probably just as busy as Amethyst. After all, she had to practice the violin and play tennis, that took up a lot of her time. There was nothing wrong with that.

He was sure that his friends would respond sooner or later. It was just a matter of time.

Everything would be fine...

* * *

Yellow Diamond had been unaware of just how many alarms were in her office. At least until all but one went off simultaneously. She dropped the tablet she was holding, and almost jumped out of her seat. Even she could be caught off guard by the blaring noise that suddenly began. Each separate alarm had it's own sound. There was a shrill, high-pitched buzzing for minor dangers, like natural disasters, that had simply occurred on the other side of the planet, or perhaps, some other world they were currently controlling. The most fitting sound was the klaxon, which sounded when a new war was declared or ended. She was most familiar with that one. Attacks on their planet, while rare, had alarm bells. In a direct threat to herself (This merited a lockdown.) there happened to be a siren. There was also the standard test drill, which was a plain buzzer. She never had to practice evacuating the building however, as she was deemed "competent enough" to know whether or not there was a real threat in the building that require evacuation. The test alarm was the only one that had not gone off.

Mixed within the din of constant alarms, there was one that she did not recognize as any that had sounded over her time in power. It was much more ominous than the wailing siren that warned herself that someone was after her. The noise was similar in fact, a much louder, more screechy version of what her own was like. She briefly wondered what idiot had installed a new alarm without telling her.

When she didn't run, hide, or take any action that she was supposed to do, the illusion on the window faded. Before it had looked like the Capitol's city horizon, only, with clean, cloudless skies. It vanished, revealing the sad, purple-brown haze that normally clouded the area. But only for a moment, as flashy, scarlet text ran past her eyes, much faster than the gem could ever hope to possibly read. It blurred before her eyes, becoming a single, crimson streak of indistinguishable characters. Then, she started to make sense of all the warnings that were trying to catch her attention.

_WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED_

_DESTRUCTION OF HOME WORLD PROPERTY_

_POTENTIAL DIRECT THREAT TO YOUR SAFETY_

_POTENTIAL DIRECT THREAT TO OFF AND ON-PLANET CIVILIANS_

_QUARTZ RESURRECTION PROJECT HAS FAILED_

It was the last warning that finally told her what was going on. For the first time in many years, she felt much more than simple anger at bad news. There was fear, and worry. Something had happened to Steven, and the project had been deemed a failure because of that. It didn't take a genius to string things together and understand what was going on. Property attacked, that could easily mean the warship the detainment crew had been given, or Steven. More likely, it was both. Both were war-worthy events. In the case of Steven, it meant that war was automatically declared, no matter whom it was against. Her safety was a given, but Steven... The project had _failed_. Property had been _destroyed_.

The memory that she should have been doing something by this point finally reached her head. The gem flung the doors open, and sprinted out of the room. She ran down the hall, paying no mind to the shocked and frightened gems around her. Their reactions didn't matter, and they were all sworn to secrecy anyways. At the end of the hall, there was a warp pad specifically keyed to herself. No other gem could even touch it without destabilizing. The current that ran through it was strong enough to leave permanent scars even on gems that had reformed multiple times. But one of the many benefits to being herself was that the warp pad could take her directly to a series of different locations that few gems even knew existed.

One of those places happened to be the labs, specifically, the ones that were used for covert weapons research, and were widely unheard of, if not speculated upon. She arrived in a small atrium, where a lone escort awaited her. The gem was trembling from head to toe, and seemed utterly speechless. The tiny thing hardly seemed to acknowledge her presence before running down a sterile, sickly-lit hall. She didn't bother with the escort, there was no time for that. It was laughably easy to run ahead of the gem, and straight to the labs where a certain team of scientists would be. They had an entire wing to themselves. It was largely unused, as many similar experiments had succeeded thousands of years ago. There was only one active room at the moment, and it was where the team of workers that monitored their project resided.

The door was already part-way open. The frantic sound of typing and hurried commandments were escaping through it. Like all of the other worried gems, none of them seemed to acknowledge her presence. The room was cramped, and the walls lined with wires and tubes, that were hastily stuck to the wall. There were worn patterns on the tiled floor, created from years of treading along the same path and repeating the same tasks every day. It was in a sad state for a place that housed all the information on one of the most important projects they had developed to date. One gem was sitting at a computer, rapidly typing lines of code into it, another was monitoring the spreadsheets that were constantly printing. The third was barking orders at the other two, clearly as distressed as they were. None of them even bothered to look up as she asked;

"What's going on?"

"The monitor in him is dead! That should only happen if-"

"Maybe it's just momentary interference!" The gem reading the papers said. "His heart beat's only been gone for a few minutes now! Something could have gotten in the way!"

"I'm trying to find any problems in the system that could have lead to this shameful-"

"Enough!"

Again, none of the gems listened to her. They were all babbling on, as if it would comfort any of them. The trio just seemed worried that they were going to lose a little more than their jobs for this failure. They were doing everything in their power to right the wrongs that probably were not even in their control. None of them could stop another from finally destroying the gem once and for all. Of course, if the project truly was over, than that meant that there would be no reason for them to live anyways. It was something that they would take with them to their rather early graves. Unless they could somehow make a second Steven without anyone questioning just a little how that was even possible. Besides, it would take much too long, and they needed the weapon back now.

"I'm sure it's just a momentary bug!"

"-no need to panic, everything will be fine once the signal clears up-"

"-I-" The gem with the spreadsheets sucked in a deep breath. "THE SIGNAL'S BACK!"

The other two abandoned their posts and ran to look at the long scroll of paper that was still printing out for her. She ran to the gem's side, and craned her neck to see what they were all staring at. There were several lines sketched out along the page, all in different colours. Most of them were flat, but they were starting to spike up and down in somewhat irregular patterns. This was what they were so fascinated by, the return of the signal.

"What does this mean?" She asked.

"He's back!"

"But..."

"Spit it out." She snarled.

"This signal's unfamiliar to us."

"Almost dead, but not quite."

"It looks more like a gem's readings than a human's now."

Growling, the gem rubbed her temples.

"Stop sniveling and tell me what that means!"

The trio of scientists looked between each other with wide, frightened eyes. The smallest one hugged the rolls of paper to her chest, trying to keep herself together. Scared reactions were nothing new to her, and she was waiting for what they had to say. She had been so used to always having an answer, always knowing what was going on. Simply asking another gem gave her all the information that she needed within seconds of asking. Every meticulous detail about anything she wished to hear about was her own.

"We don't know."

Never before had she received such an ominous reply. But the worrying all seemed to end after a moment, as a bout of static overtook one of the monitors. A scientist scurried over to the computer and accepted the distant call. It's location could have only come from one place, and one place only. Everyone in the room believed they knew exactly who would be calling them. Still, the signal was too faint to make out any visuals on the screen, or perhaps, there was no screen from the place where the gem was calling from. However, they were all sorely disappointed when they realized it was not Steven who was calling them, but rather, Peridot.

"This is Peridot transmitting on all frequencies from abandoned crystal system colony planet Earth, to Yellow Diamond. My mission has been compromised, my escort _and_ informant are gone and I am now stranded! Please send help!"

"Peridot! Can you hear us?" One of the scientists asked.

Her response was quiet through the stifling static.

"Yes, I read you."

"What has happened to Steven and the ship?"

"I wasn't aboard the ship at the time of it's power failure. But no doubt Jasper and the _Steven_ were involved in it somehow. They've been nothing but trouble this entire trip back!"

"Why weren't you on the ship?"

"To check on the cluster of course. Speaking of which-"

She groaned when the gem started to relay data to them. Oh the stupid, worthless thing! How was this supposed to help them in the slightest! She wanted to leave that moronic gem on that miserable ball of mud to rot for a while. Her information was helping them get nowhere. The cluster project was nowhere near as important as the other ones happened to be. And not only that, why was she referring to Steven as _the_ _Steven_? Had her mind truly been that messed up once she learned the details of the project? It was hard to tell whether the pathetic thing was simply clueless to begin with, or just plain dumb.

"-hatch within a short amount of time. Now, when can I expect a lift off this gem-forsaken planet?"

"In about-"

She pushed the gem away from the computer, and grabbed the microphone from her hands.

"As soon as you have found Steven, we shall send a crew to pick you up."

"I, what? The _Steven_? How am I supposed to do that?!"

"I'm sure you'll find a way. Happy hunting!"

"No, wait! The clus-"

With a triumphant grin, she pressed a button, effectively ending the transmission.

"Well, that solves _one_ of our problems."

Everything would be fine.

_**End Part One** _


End file.
